title: Association of interleukin-18 gene polymorphism with body mass index in women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Interleukin (IL)-18 is an important regulator of innate and acquired immune responses and has multiple roles in chronic inflammation and autoimmune disorders. Obesity is characterized by low- grade chronic inflammation. IL-18 has been suggested as an adipogenic cytokine that is associated with excess adiposity. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between IL-18 gene polymorphisms (-137 G/C and -607 C/A) and obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  All 680 subjects were genotyped for the polymorphisms of IL-18 gene promoters (at positions -137 G/C and -607 C/A) using a polymerase chain reaction (271 cases with BMI ≥25 kg/m² and 409 controls with BMI <25 kg/m²). A chi-square test was used to compare the genotype and allele frequencies between the cases and control populations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses of the genotype distributions revealed that IL-18 -607 C/A polymorphism was associated with an increase in body mass index in obese women in the Korean population (chi(2) = 12.301, df = 2, p = 0.015).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Carriage of the A allele at position -607 in the promoter of the IL-18 gene may have a role in the development of obesity.
authors.affiliation: College of Korean Medicine, Institute of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hye-Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung One
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Seon-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung-Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Won-Seok
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Seok-Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Sung-Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seong-Gyu
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Chang-Hyun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Su-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seung-Heon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Jae-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Um
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
chemical_list: D020382:Interleukin-18