title: Interleukin-18 promoter polymorphism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease in which interleukin (IL)-18 plays an important role. However, there are controversial reports on IL-18 promoter polymorphism as an independent marker of RA susceptibility. The aim of present study was to examine the IL-18 promoter polymorphism in patients with RA, and its association with disease susceptibility, activity and severity. We examined 309 patients with RA from a Polish population diagnosed according to the criteria of American College of Rheumatology. An allele-specific polymerase chain reaction was used for analysis of the polymorphisms in positions - 137 and - 607 in promoter region of IL-18 gene. A significantly decreased number of subjects with AC/AC and AG/AG diplotypes was observed among RA patients as compared with healthy controls (OR - 0.51, 95%CI 0.28-0.95, P = 0.045) and (OR - 0.12, 95% CI 0.02-0.97, P = 0.042), respectively. Nevertheless, there was no significant association with disease activity, joint erosions, extra-articular manifestations, rheumatoid factor. Above results suggest that IL-18-137 and - 607 promoter polymorphisms are not the significant factors influencing RA course and severity in a Polish population.
authors: Department of Pharmacokinetics and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland. pawand@poczta.onet.pl
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Pawlik
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Kurzawski
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Czerny
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Gawronska-Szklarz
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Drozdzik
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Herczynska