Cytokine Gene Polymorphisms in Turkish Patients with Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Cytokines are chemical mediators between cells and they bind on their own specific receptors on the target cells. Cytokine gene polymorphism may be implicated in the pathogenesis of infections autoimmun disease and malignancies via their effect on cytokine production and regulation. Leukemic cells proliferate under the influence of cytokines. It is known that acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) which is sensitive to some cytokine gene is one of the hematological malignances derived from lymphoid tissue. Our aim is to determined frequencies of selected cytokines (TNF-α, TGF-β, IL-10, IL-6, IFN-γ) in childhood ALL patients and unrelated healthy control groups. We also investigated weather these polymorphism might contribute to the pathogenesis of ALL. Method: Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction with sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP) using “ One lamda” kit in 44 ALL patients and 50 unrelated healthy individuals. Allelic frequencies were determined 24 polymorphism located within 16 cytokine genes. Genotype frequencies between ALL patients and controls were compared using Chi-Square Yates, Fisher’s Exact Tests and Stepwise Logistic Regression Analysis (SLRA). Results: The frequency of TGF-β(TT/GG) allel (29,5% versus 8%, respectively;in chi-square p=0,007,odds ratio=4,82, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1,49–16,16; in SLRA p=0,002, OR=15,26,95% CI 2,77–84,05), TGF-β(TC/GG) allel (36,4% versus 10%, respectively; in chi-square p=0,002,odds ratio=5,14, 95% CI 1,69–15,59; in SLRA p=0,005,OR=10,21, 95% CI 2,02–51,61), IL-6(GC) allel (38,6% versus 8%, respectively; in chi-square p