Influence of Interleukin-18 and Interleukin-17 Receptor A gene polymorphisms on the risk of thyroid cancer among Chinese Han population

Abstract

Background Thyroid cancer (TC) is a common endocrine pathology with an increasing incidence worldwide. It has been reported that high genetic impact is involved in the pathogenesis of TC, as well as cytokines, especially the interleukins play a crucial role in it. This study was designed to detect the association of IL-18 and IL-17RA polymorphisms with TC risk.Methods This case-control study conducted 365 TC patients and 503 healthy controls from Chinese Han population. Three selected SNPs (IL-18 rs360718, IL-18 rs1946519, and IL-17RA rs4819554) were genotyped to investigate the possible association of the polymorphisms with the risk of TC. Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) was used to analyze the interactions of SNP-SNP.Results IL-17RA rs4819554 was associated with the decreased risk of TC under dominant model (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.56-0.99, p = 0.04). IL-18 rs360718 significantly decreased the risk at age ≤ 44 years (C vs. A, OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.41-00.97, p = 0.033; CC vs. AA, OR = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.01-0.91, p = 0.040). On the contrast, among people older than 44 years, IL-18 rs1946519 (C vs. A, OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.03-3.06, p = 0.040) shown an increased risk with TC. MDR analysis revealed a positive interaction between the SNPs.Conclusion The present study firstly demonstrated that IL-18 rs360718, rs1946519 and IL-17RA rs4819554 polymorphisms might be related to thyroid cancer. The results were significantly worthy of further validation by larger studies.