title: Analysis of interleukin-10 gene polymorphisms and hepatitis C susceptibility in Pakistan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) commonly causes a chronic infection but few of patients are able to clear the virus naturally. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an anti-inflammatory cytokine that can suppress the immune response against HCV. Interindividual variations in IL-10 production are genetically contributed by polymorphisms within the IL-10 promoter region. This study aimed to investigate the association of the IL-10 gene promoter -1082 G/A, -819 C/T, and -592 C/A polymorphisms with HCV infection susceptibility in Pakistani individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-nine chronically infected patients and 99 controls were enrolled in the study. IL-10 (-1,082 G/A, -819 C/T, -592 C/A) genotyping was performed by amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A suggestive evidence of association with hepatitis C was obtained for the IL-10 -819 C/T (-592 C/A) (p: 0.03) promoter polymorphism at the allele level  but not in genotype distribution. The IL-10 -1082 allele showed no association while positive association of GG (p: 0.001) gene and negative association for GA (0.001) gene were observed.  Higher frequencies were observed for GTA (p: 0.02), ACC (p: 0.01) haplotype and GCC/GTA (p: 0.005) diplotype in HCV patients than controls while diplotype GCC/ATA showed protective effect against HCV.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that different IL-10 gene polymorphisms may lead to an imbalance between the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine responses which may in turn influence the susceptibility to HCV infection.
authors: NUST Center of Virology and Immunology, National University of Science and Technology, Sec H-12 Islamabad, Pakistan. sohail.ncvi@gmail.com
authors: Muhammad Sohail
authors: MS
authors: Afzal
authors: Sadia
authors: S
authors: Tahir
authors: Amna
authors: A
authors: Salman
authors: Tahir Ahmed
authors: TA
authors: Baig
authors: Talha
authors: T
authors: Shafi
authors: Najm Us Sahar Sadaf
authors: NU
authors: Zaidi
authors: Ishtiaq
authors: I
authors: Qadri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic
chemical_list: C508609:IL10 protein, human; D016753:Interleukin-10