Interleukin-8 but not interleukin-6 variant may affect susceptibility to brucellosis.
BACKGROUND
Increased levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in acute human brucellosis have been reported. Previous studies have shown that the production and level of IL-6 and IL-8 cytokines are associated with the polymorphism of the encoding genes.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the probable association between IL-6 (-174 C/G) and IL-8 (-251 A/T) gene polymorphisms and susceptibility/resistance to brucellosis.


METHODS
The patient group included 196 patients suffering from Brucella infection and the control group consisted of 82 healthy animal husbandmen from the same geographical area. IL-8 (-251 A/C) and IL-6 (-174 C/G) gene polymorphisms were analyzed by PCR-RFLP and Allele Specific PCR (AS-PCR) respectively.


RESULTS
The frequency of -251 IL-8 AA genotype was significantly lower in the controls compared with that of the patients (p=0.0051), while the frequencies of other genotypes (AT and TT) and alleles (A and T) were not significantly different among the participants. No association was found between IL-6 (-174 C/G) polymorphism and brucellosis.


CONCLUSIONS
This study indicates that the IL-8 -251 AA genotype may be considered as a genetic susceptibility factor for brucellosis.
Department of Immunology, Professor Alborzi Clinical Microbiology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, e-mail: sadafasaei@yahoo.com.
Sadaf
S
Asaei
Manoochehr
M
Rasouli
Ali
A
Moravej
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002002:Brucella / Q000276:immunology*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics*; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
C508606:CXCL8 protein, human; D015850:Interleukin-6; D016209:Interleukin-8