Interleukin-18 promoter polymorphisms in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

CER3966
2011 Vol.29, N°2
PI 0310, PF 0313
Brief Papers

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PMID: 21470492 [PubMed]

Received: 01/07/2010
Accepted : 15/12/2010
In Press: 19/04/2011
Published: 19/04/2011

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:
The role of various polymorphisms located in the IL-18 promoter has not yet been defined with regards to patient susceptibility to SLE, and occurrence of clinical manifestations of the disease remains inconsistent.
METHODS:
Using PCR-RFLP and DNA sequencing analysis we studied the frequency of -137 G/C (rs187238), -607 C/A (rs1946518) and -1297C/T (rs360719) polymorphisms in IL-18 promoter in patients with SLE from a sample of the Polish population.
RESULTS:
We observed that patients with SLE bearing the IL-18 -1297CC genotype exhibited a 2.536-fold increased risk of SLE incidence (95% CI=1.333–4.826, p=0.0035). We also found a significantly higher frequency of the IL-18 -1297C allele in patients than in controls, with odds ratio (OR) for the IL-18 -1297C allele in patients with SLE being 1.558 (95% CI=1.189–2.041, p=0.0013). Moreover, there was an association between the IL-18 -1297CC genotype and renal manifestations of SLE, OR=3.792 (1.446–9.947, p=0.0051). However, we did not find any contribution of the IL-18 -607 C/A and -137 G/C polymorphisms to SLE incidence or occurrence of the studied SLE manifestations.
CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings confirmed that the IL-18 -1297C gene variant may contribute to the risk of SLE incidence. Moreover, IL-18 -1297CC might be associated with renal manifestations of SLE.