Genetic polymorphisms of IL1RN were associated with lumbar disk herniation risk in a Chinese Han population

Interleukin (IL)-1 is a cytokine superfamily, which involved in the inflammatory process and immune response in human body. IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL1RN) has been found to be associated with risk of lumbar disk herniation (LDH) in Finland samples. However, to date, there was no investigation focus on the polymorphisms of IL1RN in Chinese Han LDH patient.

We conducted a case-control study based on 498 LDH patients and 463 controls. Five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL1RN were genotyped.

As a result, we found that the AG and GG genotypes of rs3181052 were associated with decreased risk LDH under the dominant model (OR = 0.74, 95%CI: 0.57-0.96, p = .025). In the stratification analysis, the frequency of the "A" allele of rs17042888 was significantly lower in elder LDH cases than in controls (OR = 0.723, 95%CI: 0.544-0.961, p = .025). In addition, the AG and AA genotypes of rs17042888 were associated with decreased risk of LDH in elder group under the dominant model (OR = 0.69, 95%CI: 0.49-0.98, p = .038). The GG genotype of rs315919 was identified have correlation with decreased risk of LDH in elder group under the recessive model (OR = 0.60, 95%CI: 0.37-0.97, p = .034).

Our data showed that IL1RN may be a susceptibility gene for risk of LDH in Chinese Han population.