CD14 Gene Variants and Their Importance for Childhood Croup, Atopy, and Asthma

BACKGROUND The CD14 gene has an important role in the detection of inflammatory provoking pathogens and in the ensuing signaling of the innate immune response. We assessed the role of CD14 C-159T, G-1359T in the expression of asthma, croup, and allergy in Canadian school children of ages 6 to 14 years. METHODS Children attending schools in a rural community participated in a cross-sectional survey of respiratory health. Following consent, we conducted clinical assessments to collect buccal swabs for genotyping and perform skin prick testing (SPT) to determine atopic status. Genotyping and SPT results were available for 533 and 499 children, respectively. Separate multivariable analyses that included both polymorphisms were conducted for each phenotype. RESULTS The prevalence of asthma, allergy, and croup was 18.6%, 22.4%, and 6.6%, respectively. Children with the T/T variant of CD14 G-1359T were more likely to have physician diagnosed asthma (26.8%). Children with C/C variant of CD14 C-159T had a significantly lower prevalence of croup (2.6%). Haplotype analyses of the two CD14 polymorphisms showed that individuals with the T|T haplotype combination were significantly more likely to have asthma (P = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS In this study, CD14 variants are important for the expression of croup and asthma but not atopy.