Interleukin-10 promoter polymorphisms in rheumatoid arthritis and Felty's syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether promoter polymorphisms associated withvariation in interleukin-10 (IL-10) production are relevant to thedevelopment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or Felty's syndrome (FS). METHODS:DNA was obtained from 44 FS patients, 117 RA patients and 295 controls. Thepromoter region between -533 and - 1120 was amplified by polymerase chainreaction, and polymorphisms detected by restriction enzyme digest orsequence-specific oligonucleotide probing. RESULTS: We found no significantdifference in allele or haplotype frequencies between the groups.CONCLUSION: There is no association between FS or RA and these recentlyidentified IL-10 promoter polymorphisms. Other genetic or environmentalfactors could explain the alterations in IL-10 levels seen in theseconditions.