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Background: Many immunologic and inflammatory mechanisms play a role in asthma etiology. A member of a T cell immunoglobulin (Ig) domain and mucin domain (TIM) gene family, TIM-1, in 5q31-33 region is shown to be correlated with development of T helper-2 (TH2) Cells and allergic diseases. So the aim of this study was to investigate the association of the genotype and allele frequencies of the TIM-1polymorphisms with asthma and the relationships among this polymorphism to IgE levels in patients with asthma. Methods: PCR-RFLP (Polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism) and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) were used for investigating the presence of TIM-1 polymorphisms in 200 asthmatic patients and 200 healthy controls. To assess the frequency of genotypes and its relationship with serum immunoglobulin E and asthma, chi-square test was used and P<0/05 was considered significant. Results: The genotype and allele frequency of TIM-1 polymorphisms were significantly different between the patient and controls. Significant association was observed between this polymorphism and the risk of asthma. Conclusion: The 5529A>G, 416G>C and 5529A>G polymorphismS of TIM1 gene may be associated the susceptibility of asthma and also with total serum IgE levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]