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Expression of interleukin (IL)-10 influences the frequency of rejection events after organ transplantation. Therefore, 70 heart transplant patients were genotyped for three single nucleotide polymorphisms and a microsatellite polymorphism in the promotor region of the IL-10 gene. The promoter region was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and genotyped by a colorometric oligo ligation assay and gene scan analysis, respectively. Patient groups consisted of patients suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy or ischaemic heart disease. Cardiac donors served as control group. No correlation was found between genotypes and heart failure or rejection after heart transplantation. This may indicate that in heart transplantation, the total balance of cytokine production is more important for post-transplant rejection activities than the levels of IL-10 as such.