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Updated: May 31, 2026

Candidate Gene Testing in Clinical Cohort Studies with Multiplexed Genotyping and Mass Spectrometry
Published on: June 21, 2018
Analysis of interleukin-10 gene polymorphisms and hepatitis C susceptibility in Pakistan
Muhammad Sohail Afzal1, Sadia Tahir, Amna Salman
1NUST Center of Virology and Immunology, National University of Science and Technology, Sec H-12 Islamabad, Pakistan. sohail.ncvi@gmail.com
Introduction:
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) commonly causes a chronic infection but few of patients are able to clear the virus naturally. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an anti-inflammatory cytokine that can suppress the immune response against HCV. Interindividual variations in IL-10 production are genetically contributed by polymorphisms within the IL-10 promoter region. This study aimed to investigate the association of the IL-10 gene promoter -1082 G/A, -819 C/T, and -592 C/A polymorphisms with HCV infection susceptibility in Pakistani individuals.
Methodology:
Eighty-nine chronically infected patients and 99 controls were enrolled in the study. IL-10 (-1,082 G/A, -819 C/T, -592 C/A) genotyping was performed by amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR).
Results:
A suggestive evidence of association with hepatitis C was obtained for the IL-10 -819 C/T (-592 C/A) (p: 0.03) promoter polymorphism at the allele level but not in genotype distribution. The IL-10 -1082 allele showed no association while positive association of GG (p: 0.001) gene and negative association for GA (0.001) gene were observed. Higher frequencies were observed for GTA (p: 0.02), ACC (p: 0.01) haplotype and GCC/GTA (p: 0.005) diplotype in HCV patients than controls while diplotype GCC/ATA showed protective effect against HCV.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that different IL-10 gene polymorphisms may lead to an imbalance between the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine responses which may in turn influence the susceptibility to HCV infection.
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