IL6 and asthma: Children carrying the minor allele of chr2: 221028028:I had lower IL-6 levels in response to the bacterial stimulus Fla (Supplementary Fig. S8) and were more likely to require oral corticosteroids for acute asthma attacks after age 3 years (24.4% vs 15.5%, P = 0.03, Table 3), and were more likely to have more severe disease (exemplified by requiring a higher Global Initiative for Asthma treatment step) by age 8 years compared to those with the common allele (27.8% vs 15.6%, P = 0.01, Table 3).