Association between interleukin-6 gene polymorphism and human T-cell leukemia virus type I associated myelopathy

We studied cytokine gene polymorphisms in the promoter region, including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1beta, and IL-10, in Japanese patients with human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) associated myelopathy (HAM) (n = 65), asymptomatic HTLV-I carriers (n = 143), and HTLV-I seronegative, normal controls (n = 160). There was a significant difference between HAM patients and HTLV-I carriers in the distribution of IL-6 promoter polymorphism at position -634 (chi(2) = 9.90, p = 0.0071). The IL-6 genotype was also significantly different between HAM patients and normal controls (chi(2) = 11.53, p = 0.0033), while a similar distribution was observed in IL-1beta and IL-10 polymorphisms among HAM patients, carriers, and normal controls. The results suggest that IL-6 gene region may contribute to susceptibility to HAM, and that aberrant cytokine productions could be involved in the development of HAM.