Association Study Of IL-18Gene Polymorphism And HCV Susceptibility In An HCV Epidemic Area Of Fujian Province

Objective:To investigate IL-18gene polymorphism and HCV susce-ptibility in people of Han nationality in Putian, an HCV epidemicarea of Fujian province, so as to screen for HCV susceptibility rela-ted IL-18alleles, genotypes or haplotypes.Methods:A case-control study design was employed and377peopl-e of Han nationality in Putian area of Fujian province were selecte-d. Of the377people,186cases were HCV patients (Positive forboth anti-HCV antibody and HCV-RNA) and191cases were health-y volunteers (Negative for anti-HCV antibody). People were groupe-d according to genders and ages. TaqMan-MGB probe method wasused to detect the SNPs polymorphism of IL-18and explore the r-elationship of polymorphism of IL-18and HCV susceptibility. Theodds ratio (95%Confidence Interval) of HCV susceptibility in peo-ple with different genotypes of IL-18were calculated with multiplelogistic regression model. The linkage disequilibrium and haplotyp-e of IL-18gene locus were analyzed using HaploView software. Results:(1) Hardy-Weinbery balance test in control group showed that thealleles and gene frequency of the three SNPs，IL-18-607T>G，-137G>C and+105A>C， were in agreement with Hardy-Weinbery law（P>0.05）,indicating selected people were a good representative of t-he population;(2) The alleles frequency of each IL-18genes indicat-ed: the frequencies of T and G at-607T>G site were almost thesame（52.96%，53.40%；47.04%，46.60%）; the frequencies of Gand C at-137G>C site in case group and control group were83.60%and16.40%,85.60%and14.40%, respectively; the frequencies o-f A and C at+105A>C site showed no significant difference（15.86%，15.18%；84.14%，84.82%）.Above results indicated that-607T>G,-137G>C and+105A>C sites in IL-18genes showed no significa-nt difference（P<0.05）;(3) Logistic regression analysis of the ass-ociation between genotypes and HCV susceptibility Association ana-lysis showed no solid evidence that association between SNPs poly-morphism at-607T>G，-137G>C and+105A>C sites and HCV sus-ceptibility existed;(4) Results of gene linkage disequilibrium Genelinkage disequilibrium results indicated presence of linkage disequilibrium at+105A>C and-137G> site while the frequencies of haplo-type（s+105/-137/-607) in case group and control group showed nosignificant difference;(5) correlation analysis of HCV-RNA load an- d IL-18gene polymorphism HCV-RNA load was not correlated wit-h differences of SNPs at+105A>C，-607G>T and-137G>C of IL-18(P<0.05).【conclusion】 Our results indicate clear absence of association betwe-en IL-18gene polymorphism at+105A>C，-607G>T and-137G>Csites and HCV susceptibility of Han nationality in Putian, an HCVepidemic area of Fujian province, and further study is required toe-xplore the true cause of HCV epidemic in this area.