Interleukin-6 -174G/C polymorphism in breast cancer and uterine leiomyoma patients: a population-based case control study.
A common G/C polymorphism at position -174 of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene promoter is thought to affect the expression level of this gene, thus predisposing to a variety of diseases, including tumorigenesis.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association of the -174 G/C IL-6 polymorphism with breast cancer and uterine leiomyoma in Ukrainian population.


METHODS
We genotyped the -174 G/C IL-6 polymorphism in a group of healthy Ukrainians by pyrosequencing and compared the results to those previously published for other Caucasian populations. The same genotyping procedure was applied to the local populations of breast cancer and uterine leiomyoma patients.


RESULTS
The frequencies of IL-6 alleles -174G and -174C were similar to those observed in populations from Germany-Austria, the Netherlands, UK and Northern Ireland. In cancer patients as well as in the controls the two alleles occurred at an approximate ratio 1.7 : 1 in favor of the ancestral G-allele. In contrast, there was a significant increase of the C-allele frequency in the population of leiomyoma patients as compared with the controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The -174G/C IL-6 polymorphism is not a risk factor of major importance for breast cancer in the Ukrainian population. However, there is a trend for association between the mutant C-allele and susceptibility to uterine leiomyoma.
Litovkin
K V
KV
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, Odessa State Medical University, Odessa, Ukraine. k.litovkin@rambler.ru
Domenyuk
V P
VP
Bubnov
V V
VV
Zaporozhan
V N
VN
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics*; D007889:Leiomyoma / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012307:Risk Factors; D014455:Ukraine; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*
D015850:Interleukin-6