title: Interleukin 6 gene promoter polymorphism is not associated with ankylosing spondylitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the possible association between the recently described interleukin 6 (IL-6) promoter polymorphisms at position -174, and susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis (AS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-two patients with AS, 157 healthy controls, and an additional group of 52 HLA-B27 positive unrelated individuals were included in this study. The -174 polymorphic site in the promoter region of IL-6 gene was typed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No statistically significant differences were observed when IL-6 promoter genotype and allele distribution between patients with AS and healthy controls were compared.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest the -174 IL-6 polymorphism does not play an important role in susceptibility to AS. Larger studies are needed to provide more conclusive evidence on the role of -174 IL-6 polymorphism in AS.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina López Neyra, CSIC, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Collado-Escobar
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nieto
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Matarán
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raya
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martín
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D013030:Spain; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen; D015850:Interleukin-6