Independently Carriage of IL-1RN*2 Allele Associated with Increased Risk of Gastric Cancer in The Sudanese Population.

Background: Helicobacter pylori is responsible for gastric cancer in approximately tens of millions of patients. Gastric cancer in Sudan represents one of the top causing death among cancers with about 686 cases per year and a 2.7 % mortality rate. IL-1RN VNTR polymorphism has been reported to increase the risk of gastric cancer. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the association of the 86 bp VNTR polymorphism of IL- 1RN gene and the susceptibility to H. pylori infection and gastric cancer in the Sudanese population. Materials and methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from 114 subjects. Of whom 60 had gastritis and duodenitis, 26 had a peptic ulcer, 16 had gastric cancer and 12 had normal gastroscopy findings. H. pylori infection was investigated by specific 16S rRNA. And IL-1RN VNTR polymorphism at intron 2 was genotyped using the PCR method and direct sequencing for random samples. Results: The positive H. pylori infection rate among participants was 47.37%. There is a lack of a significant difference in IL- 1RN genotype with H. pylori infection (p-value=1.0000). The IL-1 RN L/L genotype was significantly more frequent in a patient with benign disorders (gastritis or duodenitis or peptic ulcer), Odd=6.000 (95% CI =1.750-20.57, P=0.0056). While the heterozygote genotype 2/L was associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer with OR = 12.83 (95% CI = 1.261-130.6, P=0.0302). Conclusion: Independently carriage of IL-1RN *2 allele was associated with increased risk of gastric cancer in the Sudanese population. Notwithstanding the relatively small sample size of the study population, our findings show that the host genetic can be a useful tool for identifying high-risk individuals among dyspeptic patients; and also underscore the role played by host genetics in gastric carcinogenesis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in Sudan concerning this issue.