Relation between Interleukin -4 (590C/T) gene polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk in HBV and HCV patients

Abstract

Background: Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is an important modulator in the immune response of macrophages, B and T cells to stand in front of infections and malignancy. This study aimed to assess the association between IL-4 gene 590C\T polymorphism and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on top of viral hepatitis. Methods: This study was conducted on 220 patients and 60 apparently healthy individuals. One hundred and twenty patients with HCV infection (group 1) classified as sixty patients with liver cirrhosis and sixty with HCC, one hundred patients with HBV infection (group 2) classified as fifty with liver cirrhosis and fifty with HCC. Virus status of the patients was confirmed by measuring HBsAg, HCV antibodies and real time PCR. Liver cirrhosis was assessed by laboratory investigations, abdomino-pelvic ultrasound and CHILD score. Patients with HCC were diagnosed by triphasic CT, alphafeto-pro-tein level (AFP) and biopsy. The studied groups were genotyped for IL-4 590C/T gene polymorphisms by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Results: IL-4 590C/T gene analysis detected significant variation between studied groups, regarding genotype and allele frequencies (p = 0.025 and p =0.002 respectively). There were higher frequencies of CC genotype and C allele in HCC and cirrhotic hepatitis C patients than controls. C allele had higher prevalence in HCC than cirrhosis in HBV patients. CT+CC genotype carriers had an elevated HCC risk odd ratio (OR): 4.6 [95% CI: 1.5 -14] andOR 3.6 [95% CI: 1.1 -11.6], in HCV and HBV patients in contrast to controls. C allele was associated with increased cirrhotic and HCC risk in HCV infected patients with OR=4 [95% CI: 1.8 -8.8] andOR=2.3 [95% CI: 1.1 - 5.2] versus control group. In HBV patients C allele showed higher HCC risk with OR=4.2 [95% CI: 1.8 -9.5] when compared to controls. Conclusions: IL-4 590C/T genepolymorphism may have arolein occurrenceofHCC on top of liver cirrhosis.