Hussein et al (2012) studied the role of two SNPs in the IL4RA gene and their relation to susceptibility and severity of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) in 172 Egyptian women (mean age: 48 years).  PCR-RFLP was used to genotype the I50V and Q576R polymorphisms in the patients and 172 healthy control women.  The frequencies of IV genotype were found to be significantly increased in patients over the control group (53% vs. 42%).  Patients with erosive RA had a significantly increased frequency of the VV genotype over patients with non-erosive RA (27% vs. 18%), while frequencies of the QR genotype were significantly decreased among the erosive patients (32% vs. 42%).  Patients with the VV genotype had a 2.6 fold increased risk to developing erosive RA.  In addition, carriers of the 50V and 576Q alleles were found to more likely be RF positive.  The authors highlighted the potential of using these SNPS as markers for the early detection of erosive RA in Egyptian women.

Al Robaee et al (2012) conducted a study to investigate the association of genetic polymorphisms in IL-4 and IL-4R genes with acne vulgaris among Saudi patients.  Ninety five acne patients and 87 normal healthy unrelated controls from the same locality were included in the study.  Using real-time PCR, two polymorphisms; IL-4 (590 T/C) at the IL4 promoter region and the IL-4R (Q551R A/G) at the IL4 receptor gene were analyzed.  No significant differences were found with nearly equal frequencies for the IL4 (590 T/C) genotype among acne patients and controls.  While a significantly higher frequency of the IL-4R (Q551R A/G) homozygous mutant polymorphism GG were noted in patients than in controls (42.7% and 8% respectively), with a lower frequency of the wild type genotype AA in patients than in controls (55.2% and 63.2% respectively).  These results provided evidence for a significant association between the IL-4R (Q551R A/G) genetic polymorphisms and susceptibility to acne vulgaris.