The association between IL-17 gene variants and risk of colorectal cancer in a Chinese population: a case-control study

Interleukin (IL)-17 have been reported to be associated with the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Few studies investigated the association between IL-17 gene polymorphisms and risk of CRC with inconsistent findings. Thus, we recruited 352 CRC cases and 433 controls in a Chinese population and their genotyping was done using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Our data showed that IL-17A rs2275913 polymorphism was associated with the increased risk of CRC, while no association was observed for IL-17F rs763780 polymorphism. Stratified analyses revealed that the significant association was also obtained in the females, smokers, drinkers and age ≥ 60 years groups for rs2275913 polymorphism. Moreover, the CC and/or GC genotype of rs2275913 polymorphism were correlated with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis. No association was shown between IL-17F rs763780 polymorphism and clinical characteristics of CRC. In conclusion, our data indicate that IL-17A rs2275913 polymorphism but not IL-17F rs763780 polymorphism contributes to increased risk for CRC patients in this Chinese population.