Association of interleukin-6 polymorphisms with susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma

Our study was to investigate the effects of interleukin-6 (IL-6) polymorphisms (rs2069837 and rs17147230) on the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

A total of 226 HCC cases and 220 healthy controls were admitted into the study and genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood. The genotyping was conducted by the method of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to evaluate the relationship of IL-6 rs2069837 and rs17147230 polymorphisms with HCC susceptibility.

The frequency of GG genotype of rs2069837 was higher in HCC patients, compared with controls (P < 0.05). Moreover, the results indicated that GG genotype was related with increased risk for HCC (OR = 2.303, 95% CI = 1.056-5.025). Similarly, the risk for G allele carriers was higher than that of A allele (OR = 1.392, 95% CI = 1.046-1.852). For rs17147230, TT genotype showed strong effect on HCC susceptibility (OR = 2.089, 95% CI = 1.135-3.845) and T allele appeared to be a risk factor for HCC (OR = 1.326, 95% CI = 1.010-1.740). Further analysis showed that G-T haplotype was associated with increased risk for HCC (OR = 3.125, 95% CI = 1.845-5.294, P = 0.000).

IL-6 rs2069837 as well as rs17147230 were associated with HCC susceptibility. In addition, G-T haplotype also served as a genetic-susceptibility factor for HCC.