Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Respirol. Mar 28, 2016; 6(1): 33-41
Published online Mar 28, 2016. doi: 10.5320/wjr.v6.i1.33
Interactions between traffic air pollution and glutathione S-transferase genes on childhood asthma
Ching-Hui Tsai, Ming-Wei Su, Yungling Leo Lee
Ching-Hui Tsai, Ming-Wei Su, Yungling Leo Lee, Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan
Yungling Leo Lee, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan
Author contributions: Tsai CH coordinated the data analysis and wrote the manuscript; Su MW contributed to data analyses and to the preparation of manuscript; Lee YL was the coordinator of Tsai CH, who worked on content development, statistical analysis, obtaining funding, and supervision of the study.
Supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Nos. 103-2314-B-002-043-MY3, 98-2314-B-002-138-MY3 and 96-2314-B-006-053.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was approved by the institutional review board (National Taiwan University Hospital Research Ethics Committee).
Informed consent statement: The parents or guardians of each participating student provided written informed consent at study entry.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Yungling Leo Lee, MD, PhD, Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, No.17, Xuzhou Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei 100, Taiwan. leolee@ntu.edu.tw
Telephone: +886-2-33668016 Fax: +886-2-23920456
Received: August 24, 2015
Peer-review started: August 27, 2015
First decision: October 27, 2015
Revised: November 25, 2015
Accepted: December 13, 2015
Article in press: December 14, 2015
Published online: March 28, 2016
Processing time: 214 Days and 3.3 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the role of glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) genetic polymorphisms potentially modifying the association between NO2 and asthma/wheeze in Taiwanese children.

METHODS: We investigated 3714 schoolchildren in Taiwan Children Health Study from 14 communities. Children’s information was measured from questionnaire by parents. The traffic air pollutant was available from Environmental Protection Administration monitoring stations.

RESULTS: A two-stage hierarchical model and a multiple logistic regression model were fitted to estimate the effects of NO2 exposures and GSTs polymorphisms on the prevalence of asthma and wheeze. Among children with GSTP1 Ile/Val or Val/Val genotypes, those residing in high-NO2 communities had significantly increased risks of asthma (OR = 1.76, 95%CI: 1.15-2.70), late-onset asthma (OR = 2.59, 95%CI: 1.24-5.41), active asthma (OR = 1.93, 95%CI: 1.05-3.57), asthma under medication (OR = 2.95, 95%CI: 1.37-6.32) and wheeze (OR = 1.54, 95%CI: 1.09-2.18) when compared with children in low-NO2 communities. Significant interactions were noted between ambient NO2 and GSTP1 on asthma, late-onset asthma, asthma under medication and wheeze (P for interaction < 0.05). However, we did not find any association with polymorphisms in GSTM1 and GSTT1.

CONCLUSION: Children under high traffic air pollution exposure are more susceptible to asthma, especially among those with GSTP1 Val allele.

Keywords: Nitrogen dioxide; GSTP1; Asthma; Wheeze; Children

Core tip: Children under high traffic air pollution exposure are more susceptible to asthma, especially among those with glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) Val allele. This relatively common genetic polymorphism thus may play an important role in asthma pathogenesis among children depending on airway oxidative stress generation.