Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms of the IL10 gene have been linked to the occurrence of autoimmune liver disease.
Methods: We performed a meta-analysis to assess the association between three IL10 promoter polymorphisms (rs1800896, rs1800871, and rs1800872) and the risk of autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cholangitis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis.
Results: In total, 1420 articles were initially identified through database retrieval. After screening, seven eligible articles were ultimately included in the meta-analysis. A fixed-effect model was used for all Mantel-Haenszel statistics due to the absence of large between-study heterogeneity (all I2 < 50%, p > 0.1). No association between any of the studied polymorphisms and risk of autoimmune liver disease was detected in the allele, homozygote, heterozygote, dominant, recessive, or carrier genetic models (passociation > 0.05). Potential publication bias was excluded using Begg's and Egger's tests. Similar negative results were observed in subgroup analyses and in an analysis of the three haplotypes of rs1800896/rs1800871/rs1800872 (G/C/C, A/C/C, and A/T/A).
Conclusion: Our meta-analysis strongly suggests that the IL10 rs1800896, rs1800871, and rs1800872 polymorphisms are not associated with the risk of autoimmune liver disease.
Keywords: IL10; SNPs; autoimmune liver disease.