title: Lack of association of interleukin-18 gene promoter -607 A/C polymorphism with susceptibility to autoimmune diseases: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Published data on the association between interleukin (IL)-18 gene promoter -607 A/C polymorphism and autoimmune diseases risk are inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis was performed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 17 studies, including six studies on type 1 diabetes (T1D), four on rheumatoid arthritis (RA), five on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), three on Crohn's Disease (CD) and three on ulcerative colitis (UC), were available for the meta-analysis. Meta-analysis was performed for genotypes A/A (recessive effect), genotypes A/A + A/C (dominant effect), and A allele in fixed or random-effects models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, no significantly elevated autoimmune diseases risk was found in all genetic models when all studies were pooled into the meta-analysis. The overall odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for A-allele were T1D (OR = 0.938, 95% CI = 0.757-1.162), RA (OR = 0.759, 95% CI = 0.540-1.067), SLE (OR = 0.858, 95% CI = 0.609-1.208), CD (OR = 1.159, 95% CI = 0.975-1.379) and UC (OR = 1.170, 95% CI = 0.977-1.402), respectively. In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, there was still no significant association detected in all genetic models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To date, there is still not enough evidence to indicate the association of IL-18 gene promoter -607 A/C polymorphism and the development of autoimmune diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Anhui, PR China.
authors.forename: H-F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: R-X
authors.initials: RX
authors.lastname: Leng
authors.forename: D-Q
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Ye
mesh_terms: D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D020382:Interleukin-18