Background: Allergic rhinitis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the upper airways, has a major effect on the life quality of patients. The inflammatory response in the nasal mucosa includes an immediate IgE-mediated response by mast cell, so that the late phase of response is characterized by recruitment of eosinophilsand  basophils. IL-18 is a member of the IL-1 family and originally is described as an IFN-γ –inducing factor (IGIF), also it is known for influencing the balance of Th1/Th2 immune response. The aim of this study to investigated that whether immunoglobulin (Ig) E levels in serum are associated with allergic rhinitis.

Materials and Methods: Genotyping for -137G/C  SNPs of IL18 promoter was performed using 130 patients with AR and 62 healthy control volunteers then serum levels of total IgE were determined by ELISA method.  Statistical analyses were carried out  by use of SPSS version 19.

Results: The results showed that no significant relationship between genotypes -137G / C polymorphism and serum IgE levels between patients and controls in allergic rhinitis (P> 0.05).

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it seems that the IL18 gene polymorphism -137G/C is not associated with IgE levels and susceptibility of allergic rhinitis