Polymorphism of cytokine genes: cardiovascular risk factors in the Venezuelan population?

Objective: To examine whether the polymorphisms of the IL6, TNFA and IL10 genes represent a risk marker for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and to analyze their correlation with risk factors, age of occurrence and type of AMI. Method: Association study that included 310 unrelated Venezuelan individuals, grouped in 190 patients with AMI and 120 controls with or without cardiovascular risk factors. The IL6-174 G/C (rs1800795), TNFA-308 G/A (rs1800629), and IL10-1082 A/G (rs1800896),-819 C/T (rs1800871) and-592 C/A (rs1800872) polymorphisms were determined using the polymerase chain reaction technique with sequence-specific primers. Results: Comparison of genotypic and allelic frequencies, using adjusted logistic regression analysis for risk factors, showed a significantly increased frequency of the genotype combination G/G-A/A of TNFA-308 G/A (odds ratio [OR]: 3.8; p = 0.00007), GG/-C/C of IL6-174 G/C (OR: 2.3; p = 0.009), A/G-G/G of IL10-1082 A/G (OR: 3.8; p = 0.00001) and the GCC haplotype of IL10 (OR: 3.71; p = 0.0053) in infarcted patients compared to controls. Interactions between the IL10-1082 A/G and TNFA-308 G/A polymorphisms and hypertension were observed. Conclusions: The association of the variants of the TNFA, IL6 and IL10 genes with AMI suggest that the imbalance in the production of cyto-kines promotes an exacerbated inflammatory process, supporting the fundamental role of inflammation in all stages of the atherosclerotic process.