Abstract
Background: The genetic variation of the glucocorticoid-induced transcript 1 (GLCCI1; rs37971) has been associated with changes in pulmonary function. There have not been any studies that have fully demonstrated the effects of this variation on its clinical manifestation including treatment steps, and on inflammatory cytokines in the airway.
Objectives: The current study was designed to assess the role of the genetic variation of GLCCI1 as determinants of clinical peculiarities.
Methods: In this study, 383 patients with bronchial asthma who were receiving inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) and living in Japan were recruited and genotyped, from whom clinical data was obtained and also underwent pulmonary function tests and fibreoptic examinations.
Results: We identified the 85 patients (22%) as TT homozygote. The treatment steps of TT homozygote patients were significantly increased (p<0.05) because exacerbations persisted. Meanwhile, the TT genotype was not associated with a decline in FEV1. There were also no significant differences between the groups in the other examinations, such as FeNO, the concentrations of Th2-cytokines in the bronchial lavage fluid, and the number of cells expressing GLCCI1 protein in the bronchial specimens.
Conclusions: Compared with previous reports, our data did not demonstrate the differences in the pulmonary function between the genotypes. Since the administration of TT homozygote had a significantly higher number of treatment steps, the conserved normal range of FEV1 of TT might reflect the diversity of asthma controller treatments.
- Copyright ©the authors 2016