Abstract:Objective:To investigate the potential involvement of gene variants of heat shock protein 70-hom(HSP70-hom) in childhood Henoch-Schonlein purpura. Methods:Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the polymorphisms of HSP70-hom +2437T/C in 131 children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura and 66 health controls. Results:HSP70-hom gene frequencies in children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura were 1.5%(TT),34.4%(TC),64.1%(CC),and 19.7%(TT),19.7%(TC),60.6%(CC) in health controls,the differences between two groups were statistically significant. In addition,the T,C allele frequencies were 18.7%(T),81.3%(C) in Henoch-Schonlein purpura group,and were 29.5%(T),70.5%(C) in control groups,the differences were statistically significant,too. Children carrying at least one +2437C variant allele(TC+CC genotype) had a significantly increased risk for childhood Henoch-Schonlein purpura compared with the wildtype genotype (+2437TT). However,the differences between children without renal involvement in Henoch-Schonlein purpura and children with renal complications did not reach statistical significance. Conclusion:The polymorphisms of HSP70-hom+2437 T/C are genetic predisposing predictors for Henoch-Schonlein purpura in children,but has no relationship with renal complications.