The interleukin-18 -607A/C polymorphism is not associated with risk for oral cancer.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association of angiogenesis-inhibitor interleukin-18 (IL-18) with risk for oral cancer, with regard to the recently found contribution of cytokines to carcinogenesis.


METHODS
The -607A/C polymorphism in the promoter region of the IL-18 gene, which affects transcription, was studied in 149 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 89 matched healthy controls.


RESULTS
The detected carrier and allele frequencies of the low transcription A allele were not significantly different in patients in comparison with controls (63.1% versus 60.7%, p = 0.78 and 40.9% versus 42.7%, p = 0.77, respectively). The same non-significant pattern was observed in subgroups of patients regarding cancer stage, family history of cancer or thrombosis, as well as smoking or heavy drinking habits.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the known inhibitory effect of IL-18 in angiogenesis, IL-18 gene expression is not a contributing factor in oral oncogenesis.
Vairaktaris
Eleftherios
E
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Athens Medical School, "Attikon" Hospital, Rimini 1, GR-12462, Greece. lvairakt@med.uoa.gr
Serefoglou
Zoe Charalambus
ZC
Yapijakis
Christos
C
Agapi
Chatzitheofylaktou
C
Vassiliou
Stavros
S
Nkenke
Emeka
E
Antonis
Vylliotis
V
Sofia
Spyridonidou
S
Neukam
Friedrich Wilhelm
FW
Patsouris
Efstratios
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D020382:Interleukin-18