Common variants of the neuropeptide expressing tachykinin genes and susceptibility to asthma: A case–control study

Abstract Since tachykinins appear to be involved in the pathogenesis of allergic asthma, we investigated a possible association between 28 single nucleotide polymorphisms of the tachykinin genes TAC1 , TAC3 and TAC4 , and asthma susceptibility. A case–control study was conducted on 102 patients and 100 healthy subjects from the Canary Islands (Spain). A significant association with asthma was observed for two SNPs: rs2291855 in the TAC3 gene conferring asthma protection (Odds ratio [OR]: 0.46; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.22–0.97; P  = 0.038), and rs4794068 in the TAC4 gene associated with an increased risk for asthma (OR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.06–3.54; P  = 0.03). The present study represents a preliminary step in elucidating the association between tachykinin gene polymorphisms and asthma susceptibility.