title: Association of polymorphisms in the IL-18 and IL-12 genes with susceptibility to Type 1 diabetes in Turkish patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent studies have indicated that polymorphisms of the interleukin-18 (IL-18) and interleukin- 12 (IL-12) genes are associated with the development of Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in some populations, but not all.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study was designed to examine the roles of polymorphisms in the IL-18 promoter and IL-12p40 with respect to susceptibility to T1DM in Turkish patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-one patients with T1DM and 87 unrelated healthy subjects were included in the study. The IL-18 polymorphisms at positions -607 and -137 were detected by a sequence-specific PCR method. The single nucleotide polymorphism in the IL-12p40 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR) at position +1188 was analyzed by the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFPL) method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The allelic and genotypic frequencies of the IL-18 and IL-12p40 polymorphisms did not differ significantly between subjects with T1DM and the controls (p>0.05). However, diabetic patients with the -137 (CC) genotype showed a younger onset age compared to patients with the -137 (GG) genotype (p=0.02). In addition, patients with the -607 (CC) genotype had higher levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) than patients with the -607 (AC) genotype (p=0.004). Furthermore, patients with the IL-12p40 (AC) genotype had higher HbA(1c) levels than patients with the IL-12p40 (AA) genotype (p=0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the present study show that the IL- 18 and IL-12p40 polymorphisms may have some effect on the onset age and deterioration of glycemic control in Turkish patients with T1DM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. alevaltinova@yahoo.com
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Altinova
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Engin
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akbay
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akturk
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Toruner
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ersoy
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yetkin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arslan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053762:Interleukin-12 Subunit p40 / Q000235:genetics*; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D053762:Interleukin-12 Subunit p40; D020382:Interleukin-18