ER22/23EK and TTH111I polymorphisms in the glucocorticoid receptor gene in patients with bronchial asthma with regard to the age of onset

The objective of the study was to evaluate the frequency of the ER22/23EK and Tth111I polymorphisms in the glucocorticoid receptor gene (GR) in patients with early onset and late-onset asthma (BA) and to assess the risk of its phenotype’s development. The analysis of frequency of genotypes and alleles for the ER22/23EK polymorphism in the GR gene with regard to the age of BA onset demonstrated a significant difference between patients with early-onset and late-onset asthma (p = 0.035). A significant difference was revealed in the distribution of alleles and genotypes for the Tth111I polymorphism in the GR gene between patients with early-onset BA and late-onset BA (p = 0.006). No correlation was found between the ER22/23EK polymorphism in the GR gene and late-onset BA in all genetic models; also, there was a reduction in the risk of early-onset BA observed in the dominant and additive models. No association was demonstrated between the Tth111I polymorphism in the GR gene and late-onset asthma, while a statistically significant correlation was shown with the risk of early-onset asthma in the dominant and super-dominant models