The interleukin-10 (-1082A/G) polymorphism is strongly associated with increased risk for oral squamous cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Increased levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10) have been observed in patients with oral cancer, possibly as a result of suppression of the immune response. Based on this, the -1082A/G polymorphism, which influences IL-10 gene expression level, was investigated in regard to its possible association with risk for oral cancer.


METHODS
The polymorphism was examined in DNA samples of 144 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 141 healthy controls of equivalent gender, age and ethnicity.


RESULTS
The detected allele frequencies for the high expression G allele were significantly higher in patients compared to controls (34.7% versus 21.3%, respectively, p=0.0004), as well as in patients that were smokers but not those that were heavy alcohol consumers. This highly significant difference in G allele frequency was mainly due to the increase of AG heterozygotes in patients compared to controls (OR 3.05, 95% CI 1.84-5.05).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that the high expression G allele of the -1082A/G polymorphism of the inflammation and angiogenesis-related IL-10 is strongly associated with increased risk for oral cancer.
Vairaktaris
Eleftherios
E
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Athens Medical School, Attikon Hospital, Rimini 1, GR-12462 Athens, Greece. lvairakt@med.uoa.gr
Yapijakis
Christos
C
Serefoglou
Zoe
Z
Derka
Spyridoula
S
Vassiliou
Stavros
S
Nkenke
Emeka
E
Vylliotis
Antonis
A
Spyridonidou
Sofia
S
Neukam
Friedrich W
FW
Schlegel
Karl A
KA
Patsouris
Efstratios
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
D016753:Interleukin-10