Background: The mechanism of asthma has not been clearly elucidated. This study was undertaken to explore the effect of IL-13 gene polymorphism on the levels of serum IL-13 and total IgE and to better understand the role of IL-13 gene polymorphism in the mechanism of pediatric asthma.

Methods: Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method was used to detect +1923 site polymorphism of the IL-13 gene in intron 13 region and ELISA was used to detect the levels of serum IL-13 and total IgE.

Results: TT and TC gene frequencies were significantly higher in asthma group than in control group. CC type frequency was higher in the control group than in the asthma group. Serum IL-13 and total IgE levels were significantly higher in TT and TC gene types in the asthma group than in CC gene type in both groups.

Conclusion: IL-13 gene polymorphism may play an important role in the mechanism of asthma in children.