Background/aim: Evidence has shown that interleukin-18 (IL-18) has both antitumor and pro-tumor effects in various types of leukemia. The current study aimed at investigating the contribution of IL-18 polymorphisms to the risk of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in Taiwan.
Materials and methods: IL-18 promoter -656 (rs1946519), -607 (rs1946518), and -137 (rs187238) genotypes of 266 childhood ALL cases and 266 controls were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism methodology.
Results: The distributions of genotypic and allelic frequencies of IL-18 rs1946519, rs1946518 or rs187238, were not significantly different between childhood ALL cases and controls (all p>0.05). However, in the stratification analysis among the cases, IL-18 rs187238 GC and CC genotypes were associated with increased childhood ALL risk and shorter survival (OR=4.19 and 2.93, 95%CI=2.04-8.64 and 1.19-7.23, p=0.0001 and 0.0250, respectively). No association was found with rs1946519 and rs1946518 (all p>0.05).
Conclusion: IL-18 rs187238 GC and CC genotypes can serve as predictors for childhood ALL prognosis among Taiwanese. Validation in larger and various populations can greatly extend the feasibility of this novel predictor.
Keywords: Childhood ALL; IL-18; Taiwan; genotype; polymorphism.
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