Table II.

Notable Studies on the role of TIM-3 Variants in Atopic Disease

Study	Findings	Study Design/Strengths	Limitations
Chae et al. (2004; Human Immunology)	Several SNPs associated with asthma and/or allergic rhinitis (but not with serum IgE or peripheral blood eosinophils)	Case-control; Large population; selection based on physician diagnosis	No adjustment for multiple comparisons
Wu et al. (2009; Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol.)	No single polymorphism was associated with childhood asthma, but a combination of 3 polymorphisms was	Family trios study; Selection based on physician diagnosis; family trio study; TDT and haplotype relative risk assessed	No mechanistic/molecular correlate data
Graves et al. (2005; J. Allergy Clin. Immunol.)	Several polymorphisms associated with atopy and eczema, but not asthma	Case-control, longitudinal, study; adjustment for multiple comparisons; atopy assessed by skin prick	No stratified analysis by ethnicity asthma and eczema assessed only by questionnaire
Gao et al. (2005; J. Allergy Clin Immunol.)	Several TIM-3 variants found not to be associated with asthma	Case-control and family- based study	No mechanistic/molecular correlate data