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This cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the extent of genetic susceptibility by targeting variants in interleukin (IL)−4/IL-13 signalling pathways leading to atopic disease in early childhood. We evaluated involvement of five single nucleotide polymorphisms IL4 C-590T, IL13 C-1055T, IL13 Arg130Gln, IL4RA Ile50Val and IL4RA Gln576Arg, in the control of serum total and antigen-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)E levels. Furthermore, we analysed their association with changes in gene expression of five cytokines having key roles in inflammatory and anti-inflammatory immune response [IL-4, IL-13, interferon (IFN)-γ, IL-8 and IL-10]. Total and antigen-specific IgE levels in serum and gene expression of selected cytokines in peripheral blood were measured in 386 children aged 1-8 years. TaqMan allelic discrimination, amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) methods validated by sequencing were used for genotyping. All genotypes for children with total and antigen-specific IgE levels in the normal range were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Gene expression analyses were carried out using TaqMan gene expression assays. We found elevated total IgE levels in carriers of IL13 Arg130Gln variant allele [odds ratio (OR) = 1·84; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1·16-2·93]. This effect was more apparent for boys (OR = 2·31; 95% CI = 1·25-4·28). However, no significant association was observed for the other four variants examined. We found up-regulation of IFN-γ in children with elevated serum total IgE levels carrying the Arg130 allele ( P = 0·005). No differences were found for IL4, IL8 or IL10, while IL13 gene expression was under the detection limit. IL13 Arg130Gln genotypes can play a role in genetic susceptibility to allergy via regulation of serum total IgE levels and affecting IFN-γ gene expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]