Genomic analysis of the interleukin-1β-511 and interleukin-6-174 gene polymorphisms in Turkish patients with epilepsy

In this study, we examined the frequency of polymorphisms in the interleukin (IL) genes IL-1β-511 and IL-6-174 in patients with epilepsy as well as a control group in Kars, Turkey. A total of 100 patients diagnosed with epilepsy and 100 nonepileptic subjects as a control group were examined. Peripheral blood samples were acquired from patients and control subjects for DNA extraction. The target region was amplified using polymerase chain reaction and digested using the restriction enzymes SfaNI and AvaI. Restriction products were extracted from agarose gel electrophoresis and polymorphisms were analyzed using gel images. For IL-1β, the most common genotype among the epilepsy group was the CT genotype with a 62% frequency; the T allele was the most common allele with a frequency of 34%. Among the control group, however, the CT genotype showed a frequency of 25% and the T allele had a 22% frequency. For IL-6-174, among the epilepsy group, the GG genotype prevalence was approximately 42% and G allele prevalence was 46%. The GG genotype was approximately 50% and the G allele was 53% in the control group. Thus, changes in the allele frequency of the T allele of IL-1β-174 may be associated with epilepsy. However, there was no significant difference for the G allele frequency of IL-6-511. A larger sample size should be examined to verify these relationships, which could help to improve the clinical diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy.