Acta Tropica 90 (2004) 205–209 IL4-589C/T polymorphism and IgE levels in severe malaria  Federica Verra a,b,∗ , Gaia Luoni a,f , Carlo Calissano a,c , Marita Troye-Blomberg c , Peter Perlmann c , Hedvig Perlmann c , Bruno Arcà a,d , Bienvenu Sodiomon Sirima e , Amadou Konaté e , Mario Coluzzi a,b , Dominic Kwiatkowski f , David Modiano a,b a Dipartimento di Scienze di Sanità Pubblica, Sezione di Parassitologia, WHO Collaborating Centre for Malaria Epidemiology and Control, Rome 00185, Italy b Istituto Pasteur Cenci-Bolognetti, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, Rome 00185, Italy c Department of Immunology, Stockholm University, Stockholm SE-106 91, Sweden d Dipartimento di Genetica, Biologia Generale e Molecolare, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Via Mezzocannone 8, Naples 80134, Italy e Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, 01 BP 2208 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso f Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Roosvelt Drive, OX3 7BN Oxford, UK Received 16 June 2003; received in revised form 27 October 2003; accepted 4 November 2003 Abstract Previous studies identified an allelic variant of the IL4 promoter region (IL4-589T) that appears to enhance the transcriptional activity of IL4, and is associated with increased IgE levels. Total serum IgE levels are elevated in malaria endemic regions, and higher in children with severe malaria. Here, we investigated the relationship of the IL4-589C/T polymorphism with severity of the disease in a case-control study of severe malaria in Burkina Faso, West Africa. No association between the IL4-589T and severe malaria was observed. No difference in Plasmodium falciparum-specific IgE was detected between severe and uncomplicated malaria patients. Among children with severe malaria, total IgE levels were significantly elevated in those carrying the IL4-589T allele (P = 0.018). In children with uncomplicated malaria, no significant difference was found. These results raise the possibility that there is a relationship between susceptibility to severe malaria, IgE production and genetic variation in the IL4 region, which merits further investigation in other epidemiological settings. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Total IgE; Plasmodium falciparum-specific IgE; Cytokines; Severe malaria; West Africa  The Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme (CNRFP) was supported by the Programma di Assistenza Tecnica della Direzione Generale per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The study was supported by the INCO DC European Union Contract No. IC18-CT980361, by the Swedish International Development Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SIDA/SAREC), and by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)/World Health Organization (WHO) Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-06-4991-4900; fax: +39-06-4991-4653. E-mail address: federica.verra@uniroma1.it (F. Verra). 0001-706X/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.actatropica.2003.11.014