title: Association of an interleukin-16 gene polymorphism with the risk and pain phenotype of endometriosis.
abstract: Interleukin-16 (IL-16), a proinflammatory cytokine, plays a pivotal role in inflammatory diseases as well as in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of IL-16 gene polymorphisms with the risk and clinical phenotypes of endometriosis in Chinese women. We analyzed rs4778889 T/C, rs11556218 T/G polymorphisms of the IL-16 gene in 230 patients with endometriosis and 203 controls in a Chinese population, using a polymerase chain reaction-high resolution melting analysis strategy and DNA sequencing methods. There was no significant difference in the genotype and allele frequencies of the rs11556218 T/G polymorphism between patients with endometriosis and controls (p>0.05). In contrast, the genotype and allele frequencies of the rs4778889 T/C polymorphism were statistically different between patients with endometriosis and controls, which resulted from a significantly increased proportion of TC heterozygote and CC homozygote carriers among patients with endometriosis (p=0.001 and 0.012, respectively); moreover, further subgroup analysis found that the genotype difference was more evident in patients with endometriosis who also experienced pain symptoms (p<0.001) than in patients without pain symptoms (p=0.625) when compared with controls. Our results suggest that the rs4778889 T/C polymorphism of the IL-16 gene may be associated with risk of endometriosis in the Chinese population, especially in patients with pain phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, West China Secondary Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ling
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.forename: Yong-Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ting-He
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Li-Na
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D019410:Interleukin-16 / Q000235:genetics*; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
chemical_list: D019410:Interleukin-16