Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases
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Infect. Genet. Evol. · Dec 2011
Genetic polymorphism of interleukin-16 influences susceptibility to HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma in a Chinese population.
Interleukin-16 (IL16) as a multifunctional cytokine, plays a key role in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases as well as tumour growth and progression. Recently, genetic polymorphisms of IL16 have been reported to be associated with susceptibility to a range of cancers. This study was undertaken to investigate the IL16 gene polymorphisms and determine whether these genetic factors are related to the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a Chinese population. ⋯ This study showed that the genotypes and allele of IL16 SNPs were associated with chronic HBV infection and HCC. However, further investigation with a larger sample size and haplotype analysis with other SNPs may be required to validate the genetic effects of the IL16 polymorphisms on chronic HBV infection and HCC.