-Short Communication-

Association of Basophil-Expressing Genes with Effectiveness of Sublingual Immunotherapy

Minoru Gotoh^1,2, Osamu Kaminuma^2,3, Akihiro Nakaya^2,4, Mayumi Saeki², Tomoe Nishimura², Noriko Kitamura², Takachika Hiroi² and Kimihiro Okubo^1,2

¹Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan
²Allergy and Immunology Project, The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan
³Department of Disease Model, Research Institute of Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
⁴Department of Genome Informatics, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

Basophils were reported to be associated with allergy pathogenesis and the efficacy of allergen immunotherapy. Using a purified cedar allergen, we recently studied the effectiveness of sublingual immunotherapy for patients with Japanese cedar pollinosis. Patients were classified as high responders (HR) and nonresponders (NR), and comprehensive microarray analysis was used to examine peripheral basophils in both groups. A total of 153 genes were differentially expressed in HR and NR patients. Most of these differentially expressed genes encoded intracellular molecules, and expression levels were higher in HR patients than in NR patients. mRNA expression of the gene encoding D4, zinc, and double plant homeodomain (PHD) fingers family 2 (DPF2) was significantly correlated with copy number variation (CNV). Genetic variation in the DPF2 gene and its expression in basophils might be associated with the efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy.

J Nippon Med Sch 2020; 87: 49-52

Keywords
apoptosis, copy number variation, D4, zinc, and double plant homeodomain fingers family 2, microarray analysis

Correspondence to
Minoru Gotoh, MD, PhD, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8603, Japan
m.gotoh@nms.ac.jp

Received, July 4, 2019
Accepted, August 23, 2019