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In this cohort of Hungarian children there was no association between - 28G, and - 403A alleles in the RANTES promoter, - 2518G polymorphism in the distal regulatory region of the MCP-1 and AEDS, or allergy.

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Aims: To investigate whether the presence of the CCR5∆32 allele was associated with atopy or asthma. Methods: A total of 118 children with asthma, 145 children with non-asthmatic, but allergic phenotype, and 303 children without allergic or asthmatic disorders were studied. Results: There were no significant differences in the frequency of CCR5∆32, or in the distributions of genotypes between the groups. The relative eosinophil blood count was slightly lower in patients with heterozygous genotype, than in patients with wild type genotype. Conclusion: No association was found between the susceptibility of allergy or asthma and the functional deficient CCR5∆32 allele.A sthma is a pulmonary disease characterised by increased bronchial responsiveness to a variety of stimuli. Chemotactic cytokines, or chemokines, are small signalling proteins which are deeply involved in the physiology and pathophysiology of acute and chronic inflammatory processes, by attracting and stimulating specific subsets of leukocytes. Several studies have shown that chemokines and their receptors are implicated in asthma. 1A common 32 base pair (bp) deletion mutation in the CC chemokine receptor 5 gene (CCR5∆32), which causes truncation and loss of CCR5 receptors on lymphoid cell surfaces has been described.2 Two recent studies in the Lancet have reported controversial results about the prevalence and role of the CCR5∆32 mutation in asthmatic individuals. Hall et al have reported an association of the CCR5∆32 allele with reduced risk of asthma in Scottish children, 3 while Mitchell et al found no significant association for atopy or asthma/wheeze in families from Western Australia and Southern England. 4 Given the potential importance of CCR5 in allergic inflammation, we determined the prevalence of the CCR5∆32 mutation in three groups of Hungarian children. METHODSA total of 118 asthmatic children (aged 3-18 years, mean 10.1 (SD 3.5) years), 145 non-asthmatic, allergic children (aged 1-18 years, mean 5.4 (SD 3.8) years), and 303 children of comparable age without atopic or allergic disorders were enrolled in the study.The asthmatic children attended the Allergic Outpatient Consultation of the Budai Children's Hospital. All the asthmatic children had specialist physician diagnosed asthma with the following characteristics: (1) recurrent breathlessness and expiratory dyspnoea requiring treatment; (2) physician diagnosed wheeze; and (3) reversibility of the wheezing and dyspnoea by bronchodilator treatment, measured as forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1 ) by a spirometer (Piston).The non-asthmatic allergic children attended the Allergic Outpatient Consultation of Heim Pál Pediatric Hospital. All the allergic children had specialist physician diagnosed allergy with the following criteria: (1) clinical signs of severe allergy (including allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, food allergy, and urticaria); and (2) atopy (defined as described elsewhere 5 ). The control children were selected from patients in the Heim Pál Pediatric Hospita...