Investigation of the possible role of Tie2 pathway and TEK gene in asthma and allergic conjunctivitis

Tie2, coded by the TEK gene, is a tyrosine kinase receptor and plays a central role in vascular stability. It was suggested that variations in the TEK gene might influence the susceptibility to asthma and allergic conjunctivitis. The aim of this study was to further investigate these suggestions, involving different populations and to study the Tie2 related pathway on a mouse model of asthma. In stage I, 113 SNPs were screened in the TEK gene of the patients in order to search for associations with asthma and allergic conjunctivitis. The top associated SNPs were selected for association studies on the replication cohorts.