The Relationship between Interleukin-6 Polymorphism and Susceptibility to Hepatitis C-virus Infected Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Raised levels of the interleukin (IL-6) have been reported in patients with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), but it remains debatable whether they are influenced by IL-6 promoter polymorphisms. Therefore, this current study sought to assess whether IL-6 (-174G/C), (-597G/A), and (-572G/C) promoter polymorphisms are associated with serum IL-6 levels in HCV patients.. Methods: Total 102 patients and 103 healthy controls were involved. IL-6 (-174G/C) was genotyped using Mutagenically separated Polymerase Chain Reaction (MS-PCR) while sequence specific primers-PCR(SSP-PCR) was used for (-572G/C) and (-597G/A). The levels of IL-6 in serum samples were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Result: The most frequent genotypes were (-174GG) in both groups. (-572GG) in patients while (-572GC) in the control group and (-597GG) in patients and (–579GA) in control. A significant increase (P<0.001) in (-174GG), (-572GG) and (-597GG); respectively in the HCV group against controls, however (-572GC) and (-597GA) genotype was significantly decreased (P<0.001) in patients. A significant increase in G alleles in all polymorphism. Detection and differentiation of levels of IL6 were significantly higher (P=0.028) in patients infected with (HCV) compared with normal group. In serum IL-6 level, A significant increase was observed in (-174G/C) IL-6. Conclusions: our results indicate that a predisposition to chronic HCV infection is associated with a particular IL-6 polymorphism (-174 G/C), (-597G/A), and (-572 G/C) in an Egyptian population and may affect the level of IL-6.