Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Various polymorphisms occur in cytokine genes involved in inflammatory processes in Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO). Anti-inflammatory cytokines such as transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) are among those believed to be involved in the disease process. In this study, we investigated the association between 8 polymorphisms within the mentioned cytokines and GO.

Methods: The following polymorphisms were studied in 50 patients with GO, 57 Graves’ patients without GO and 140 healthy individuals using polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers: TGF-β (+869C/T, +915G/C), IL-10 (−1082A/G, −819C/T, −592C/A) and IL-4 (−1098T/G, −590T/C, −33C/T). A corrected p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The TGF-β+915C allele (Odds Ratio (OR)=2.20) and CC genotype (OR=7.50) as well as +869C allele (OR=2.21) showed significant correlations with GO. Regarding IL-4 polymorphisms, the −1098G allele (OR=2.09) and GG genotype (OR=7.49), and the −33T allele (OR=2.05) and TT genotype (OR=4.00) were significantly associated with GO. The IL-10 −819TT genotype (OR=5.00) was significantly correlated with GO.

Conclusion: This is the first study to show that polymorphisms in anti-inflammatory cytokine genes are associated with susceptibility to GO.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.