Upregulation of IL-13 concentration in vivo by the IL13 variant associated with bronchial asthma.

Background: A substantial body of evidence exists to support the pivotal role of IL-13 in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma. We recently found that a variant of the IL13 gene (Arg110Gln) is genetically associated with bronchial asthma, which is concordant with animal experiments using IL-13 in the development of asthma.

Objective: To address whether the Gln110 variant of IL13 influences IL-13 function, contributing to the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma, we studied the functional properties of the variant.