Polymorphisms of RANTES and IL-4 genes in cerebral infarction

Chemoattractant peptides (chemokines) and cytokines have been shown to play a key role in the inflammatory development and progression of cerebrovascular disease. The effect of polymorphisms in regulated upon activation, normal T cells expressed, and secreted (RANTES) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) genes on cerebral infarction (CI) is evaluated in this study. Patients with CI (n = 320) and healthy controls (n = 481) were genotyped for RANTES-403 and IL-4 variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphisms using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism. A significant difference was observed between the CI group and controls in subjects with the RANTES AA genotype in IL-4 A3- carriers (18.6% vs. 13.1%, P = 0.035, odds ratio = 1.5, 95% confidence interval = 1.03-2.25). These findings suggest that the RANTES G-403A allele increased the relative risk for CI in the subjects without the IL-4 VNTR allele 3.