No abstract

Background: The most common primary cause of liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Cytokines as mediators have significant roles in immune and inflammatory responses. Interleukin-13 (IL-13) is a potent pleiotropic cytokine. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of IL-13/+110 gene polymorphism in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV), one of the most important factors that lead to the development of HCC. Methods: DNA was extracted from peripheral blood cells of all 585 participants including 302 unrelated Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBS-Ag) positives and 283 healthy matched groups. The IL-13 gene polymorphism (+ 110 A or G) was genotyped by SSP-PCR method and then genotype frequencies were checked by using the Pearson's chi-square test and/or Fisher exact test. Results: The frequencies of A/G genotype (CI = 1.18-2.34, OR = 1.66, P = 0.004) and A/A genotype (CI = 0.95-3.53, OR = 1.84, P = 0.071) were higher in the patients. Also, the frequency of A allele was remarkably higher in the HBV patients than control group (CI = 1.09-1.79, OR = 1.84, P = 0.071). Conclusions: High frequency of A allele in patients rather than control group suggested that A allele probably plays a role in augmenting susceptibility to HBV infection risk and high frequency of G allele in controls suggested this allele has a protective role in this disease.