Asthma treatment outcome in adults is associated with rs9910408 in TBX21 gene

Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are one of the most commonly used asthma therapies and have highly variable treatment success. Polymorphisms in TBX21, a gene important for the biological action of corticosteroids, could be associated with treatment response in asthmatics. We genotyped for rs9910408 in TBX21 in 208 adult asthmatic patients, treated at least 3 years with ICS. Polymorphism rs9910408 was associated with response to ICS treatment. When treatment success was assessed by a decrease in bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR), the frequency of AA genotype was significantly higher in good responders (P = 0.049). This genotype related response was even more evident in the subgroups of non-smokers (P = 0.008) and in non-atopic patients (P = 0.009). AA genotype was overrepresented among good responders according to changes in FEV1 in the subgroups of non-smokers (P = 0.013) and in non-atopic patients (P = 0.048). Our results showed that treatment response to ICS, assessed as changes in BHR and FEV1, is associated with TBX21.