Abstract
Background: Asthma is the most prevalent disease in India according to the national survey conducted by NFHS 2 in 1998–399. Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) is a bronchoconstriction inducing metabolite of arachidonic acid in the mast cells, which is produced on exposure to allergens and acts as a ligand for the Prostaglandin D2 Receptor (PTGDR). Polymorphisms in the PTGDR gene have been suggested to be involved in the mechanism of asthma.Objective: This is the first study conducted in India, investigating the role of PTGDR −441C/T promoter polymorphism in asthma pathogenesis.Methods: A case-control study was performed with a total of 992 subjects, including 410 adult asthmatics and 582 healthy controls from regions of North India. The PTGDR−441C/T polymorphism was genotyped by Tetra-Primer Amplification Refractory Mutation System Polymerase Chain Reaction (Tetra-Primer ARMS PCR).Results: Statistical analysis of the results between asthma cases and controls for the PTGDR −441C/T polymorphism showed Chi2 (χ2) = 0.29, OR = 0.95, 95% CI (0.70–1.15) and p = 0.599. Neither the genotypic nor the allelic frequencies observed for the PTGDR −441C/T polymorphism, were significantly associated with asthma or asthma phenotypes.Conclusions: The PTGDR −441C/T polymorphism is not associated with asthma or its phenotypes in the studied North Indian population.