The interleukin-6 G(–174)C promoter polymorphism in the LURIC cohort: no association with plasma interleukin-6, coronary artery disease, and myocardial infarction

Abstract

IL-6 plasma levels are predictive of major cardiovascular events. Recently a G/C polymorphism at position -174 in the promoter of the IL-6 gene has been associated with differences in both the IL-6 transcription rate in vitro and IL-6 levels in vivo. We examined the association of this polymorphism with coronary artery disease (CAD) and previous myocardial infarction (MI) in 2559 patients with angiographically documented CAD with ( n=1365) and without ( n=1194) MI and in a control group of 729 individuals in whom CAD had been ruled out angiographically. Assuming dominant or recessive modes of inheritance, carriers of the G allele had odds ratios of 0.98 (95% CI 0.79 - 1.20) and 0.96 (95% CI 0.80 - 1.14), respectively, for CAD, and almost identical ones for previous MI. In subgroups stratified for low cardiovascular risk, the IL-6 promoter polymorphism was also not related to the risk of CAD or MI. In addition, the plasma concentration of IL-6 did not differ between groups with different IL-6 genotypes in 942 randomly selected individuals. We conclude that the IL-6 G(-174)C polymorphism is not associated with the risk of CAD or MI and does not contribute to cardiovascular risk stratification.

-174G>C interleukin-6 gene polymorphism in Tunisian patients with coronary artery disease

“…The frequency of the -174C allele was comparable between CAD patients and healthy controls, but was lower than that in European populations. In addition, the frequency of the -174G/C (26.3) and -174C/C (2.4) genotypes in our patient group was lower than that in French or Irish (Belfast) population, as reported in the Etude Cas Temoin de l’Infarctus du Myocarde (ECTIM) study,25 or in German or Scottish populations 1926. Our finding of an apparent lack of association of -174G>C alleles and genotypes with CAD was reminiscent of an earlier case-control study among Tunisian patients of breast carcinoma (immuno-inflammatory disease) (n=305) and healthy control subjects (n=200), where a comparable distribution and frequency of -174G>C alleles and genotypes were noted between patient and control groups,27 which were also comparable to those reported by Sekuri et al in the Turkish population 28…”

Genomic polymorphic profiles in an Irish population with meningococcaemia: is it possible to predict severity and outcome of disease?

“…29 We found an association between homozygous carriage of the IL-6 À174 G allele and poor outcome in meningococcal disease. Higher IL-6 levels have been found to be strongly associated with mortality in meningococcal sepsis, 8,9 and other forms of sepsis.…”

Association between the -174 G/C polymorphism of the interleukin-6 gene and myocardial infarction risk: a meta-analysis

“…Based on our search criteria, 846 were excluded because they did not satisfy the inclusion criteria. A total of nine studies with 6778 cases and 5879 controls were included in the meta-analysis (Georges et al, 2001;Nauck et al, 2002;Bennet et al, 2003;Kelberman et al, 2004;Licastro et al, 2004;Lieb et al, 2004;Bennermo et al, 2011;Coker et al, 2011;Vakili et al, 2011). The characteristics of the selected studies are summarized in Figure 1.…”