Association of IL-10 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis in Egyptian children and adolescents: a case-control study

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is the most common chronic arthritis in children worldwide. Among anti-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a key immunosuppressive cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of JIA. To date, only a few studies concerned the association of interleukin-10 gene polymorphisms with JIA. In this study, we aimed to investigate 3 cytokine single-nucleotide polymorphisms situated at positions -1082(G/A), -819(C/T), and -592(C/A) in the promoter region of the IL-10 gene to determine whether this polymorphism could be a marker of susceptibility to JIA in Egyptian children and adolescents. We also measured the serum level of IL-10 to assess its relation to such polymorphism. This was a case-control study included 100 patients diagnosed with JIA, and matched with age, gender, ethnicity 100 healthy control subjects. Interleukin-10 -1082(G/A), -819(C/T), and -592(C/A) polymorphisms were genotyped by amplification refractory mutation system- polymerase chain reaction (ARMS)-PCR methodology, while the serum IL10 levels were measured by ELISA method. Compared to the controls subjects, the frequency of IL-10- AA genotype and A allele at the -1082 position were overrepresented in patients with JIA (OR = 2.7; 95% CI: 1.1-6.4 for the AA genotype; P