Clinical relevance of IL-10 gene polymorphism in patients with major trauma

To assess IL-10 serum concentration according to outcome of severe trauma treatment and influence of short nuclear polymorphism (SNP) 1082G/A within IL-10 gene on treatment outcome of patients with severe trauma.

Forty-seven patients with major trauma were prospectively recruited, and they were divided into two groups according to outcome (survivors and non-survivors). The IL-10 gene polymorphisms were genotyped using restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Serum IL-10 levels were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Association between IL-10 serum concentration, IL-10 SNP type and IL-10 serum concentration in groups of patients with different SNPs with outcome after severe trauma was evaluated.

Mean age of patients was 35.53±14.53 years. The major mechanism of injury was traffic, and the mean injury severity score was 35.47±11.23. Despite higher values of IL-10 serum concentrations in patients with lethal outcome, the difference was not statistically significant. In 40 (85%) patients no gene polymorphism for IL-10 was recorded. No statistical significance in frequency of IL-10-1082 gene polymorphism was observed between the patients with different outcomes of polytrauma. No statistically significant difference in IL-10 values was evidenced between the subjects with and without polymorphisms in any of the observed times of measurement, although a trend toward the higher values may be observed in patients with polymorphism in heterozygous form.

The patients with IL-10 SNP gene polymorphism despite no proven statistical significance appeared to have higher values of IL-10 and consequently worse outcome.