The development of asthma seems to be associated with an imbalance of T helper cells towards an augmented Th2 cell population. The transcription factors TBX21, HLX1 and GATA3 play a crucial role in T cell commitment. Therefore, aim of the present work was to identify polymorphisms (SNPs) in these genes and to characterize their functional role in the development of asthma. Association studies demonstrated that TBX21 and HLX1 SNPs, especially in combination, significantly influence childhood asthma risk, whereas no significant effects could be observed for GATA3 SNPs. Functional studies showed that TBX21 and HLX1 SNPs significantly alter gene expression levels. For HLX1 these effects seem to be due to disturbed binding of SP-transcription factors to the HLX1 promoter. Furthermore, a protein-protein-interaction was observed between TBX21 and HLX1. Exonic polymorphisms in both genes changing the amino acid sequence at the protein level do not alter this interaction significantly
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The development of asthma seems to be associated with an imbalance of T helper cells towards an augmented Th2 cell population. The transcription factors TBX21, HLX1 and GATA3 play a crucial role in T cell commitment. Therefore, aim of the present work was to identify polymorphisms (SNPs) in these genes and to characterize their functional role in the development of asthma. Association studies demonstrated that TBX21 and HLX1 SNPs, especially in combination, significantly influence childhood asth...
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