Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease which affects up to 10-15% of the human population in industrialized countries. A complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors is suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of this disease. Activation of the innate immune system via toll-like receptors (TLRs) might play a role in this respect. Interleukin-1 receptor associated kinase M (IRAK-M) negatively regulates TLR signalling and inflammation. Recently, the IRAK-M gene was identified to confer linkage to asthma on chromosome 12q13-24 in a Sardinian population, and variation within the IRAK-M gene was associated with early-onset persistent asthma in Sardinian and Italian cohorts. In order to evaluate the possible role of polymorphisms in the IRAK-M gene in the pathogenesis of AD, we investigated six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this gene in a German AD case-control study. Unrelated AD patients (n=361) and healthy controls (n=325) were studied genetically using PCR-coupled methods. Analysis of single SNPs and haplotypes did not reveal a significant association between polymorphisms in the IRAK-M gene and AD in this cohort.