Association between IL6 polymorphism and risk of cerebral infarction

We conducted a case-control study to investigate the influence of IL6 -174G/C (rs1800795) and -572C/G (rs1800796) genetic variants on the development of cerebral thrombosis in a Chinese population. This study included 305 cerebral infarction patients and 326 control subjects enrolled between May 2012 and May 2014. The genotyping of IL6 -174G/C (rs1800795) and -572C/G (rs1800796) polymorphisms was performed using polymerase chain reaction combined with restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. By using logistic regression, we found that when compared with the wild-type genotype, CC and GC+CC IL6 -174G/C (rs1800795) genotypes were associated with an increased risk of cerebral infarction. Odds ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) were calculated to be 3.10 (1.57-6.41) and 1.63 (1.14-2.33) for the CC and GC+CC genotypes, respectively. In conclusion, our study suggests that the CC genotype and C allele of the IL6 -174G/C (rs1800795) polymorphism are associated with an increased risk of cerebral infarction.