Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the interleukin-4 gene and interleukin-4 receptor gene with Crohn's disease in a British population

Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is an important cytokine in mucosal immunity and plays a critical role in the development of colitis in T-alpha cell receptor mutant mice. Functionally significant polymorphisms have been described in the genes encoding IL-4 and IL-4 receptor. To examine the role of these polymorphisms in disease susceptibility 98 patients with ulcerative colitis. 86 patients with Crohn's disease and 321 healthy controls were genotyped for polymorphisms at position -34 in the IL-4 gene and codon 576 in the IL-4 receptor gene. Thirty-two percent of patients with Crohn's disease carried one or two copies of the variant allele for IL-4 compared with 16% of the controls (P = 0.002). Forty-one percent of patients with Crohn's disease carried one or two copies of the variant IL-4 receptor allele compared with 31% of the controls (P = 0.09). Fifteen percent of patients with Crohn's disease carried combination of both (IL-4 and IL-4 receptor) variant alleles compared with 4% of the controls (P = 0.005). Association with alleles resulting in high IL-4 transcription and enhanced signalling activity suggests that IL-4 may have a role in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease.