Association of severe respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis with interleukin-4 and interleukin-4 receptor α polymorphisms

The association of variants of genes encoding interleukin (IL)-4 and the IL-4 receptor α chain (IL-4Rα) with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis was examined in hospitalized infants. Polymorphisms in IL-4 (C-590T) and IL-4Rα (I50V and Q551R) were genotyped by restriction fragment-length polymorphism analysis. Control subjects included parents of the hospitalized children (for the transmission/disequilibrium test), and a random population sample (for the case-control study). Results were also analyzed in a combination of these 2 tests, using Fisher's method. The IL-4 590T allele was found more frequently among children hospitalized with RSV than expected in the case-control (odds ratio [OR], 1.43; P = .04) and combination (OR, 1.41; P = .02) tests. Among children who were >6 months old when they were hospitalized, compared with the control group or with the <6 months old who were hospitalized for RSV infection, higher frequencies of both the IL-4 590T allele and the IL-4Rα R551 allele were found. These results indicate that gain-of-function variants of T helper type 2 cytokine genes may play a role in increasing the severity of RSV disease, which appears more pronounced after the first half-year of life.