Association between interleukin-10 gene promoter polymorphisms and susceptibility to liver cirrhosis

We conducted a case-control study to investigate the association between three common SNPs in IL-10 gene (rs1800896, rs1800871 and rs1800872) and the development of liver cirrhosis in a Chinese population. Between January 2013 and December 2014, a total of 318 patients with liver cirrhosis and 318 health control subjects were enrolled into our study. The IL-10 rs1800896, rs1800871 and rs1800872 polymorphisms were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). By multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that individuals with the AA genotype and GA+AA genotype of IL-10 rs1800896 were more likely to have an increased risk of liver cirrhosis when compared with the GG genotype, and the ORs (95% CI) for the AA genotype and GA+AA genotype were 2.04 (1.20-3.50) and 1.41 (1.02-1.96), respectively. We found that the GA+AA genotype of IL-10 rs1800896 had higher risk of liver cirrhosis in individuals with chronic hepatitis B when compared with the GG genotype (OR = 1.95, 95% CI = 1.01-3.59). In conclusion, we found that IL-10 rs1800896 polymorphism was correlated with an increased risk of liver cirrhosis, especially in individuals with chronic hepatitis B.