NOD2 mRNA relative expression levels were significantly decreased in atopic asthmatic cases relative to controls with lower values among severe atopic asthmatics.
Taken together, our results indicate that NOD2 could serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic option for human asthma in the near future.
The new susceptibility region for TAO at 16q12 harbors variants that correlate with the expression of CYLD and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 2 (NOD2), 2 strong candidates for asthma.
Polymorphisms in the identified chitin receptors, NOD2 and TLR9, predispose individuals to inflammatory conditions and dysregulated expression of chitinases and chitinase-like binding proteins, whose activity is essential to generate IL-10-inducing fungal chitin particles in vitro, have also been linked to inflammatory conditions and asthma.
The situation is complicated further by the fact that WT NOD2 and WT RIP2 activity has been implicated in diseases such as asthma, inflammatory arthritis and MS.
We genotyped a large population of German schoolchildren (N = 1872) from East and West Germany for 3 functional relevant CARD15 polymorphisms for their role in the development of asthma and allergy.