Association of IL-1 polymorphisms and IL-1 serum levels with susceptibility to nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Previous studies demonstrated that the polymorphism of interleukin-1 (IL-1) produce alterations of the protein expression and may contribute to oncogenetic processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between IL-1A gene polymorphisms and NPC susceptibility and the influence of on IL-1α serum levels in cases versus controls. To test whether the genetic variants of IL-1A gene modify the risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), we compared the -889C/T and rs3783553 polymorphisms between 248 patients with NPC and 296 healthy controls using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Serum IL-1α levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The rs3783553 (TTCA insertion or deletion) polymorphism of the IL-1A gene was significantly associated with the susceptibility to NPC. The variant homozygote genotype +/+ was associated with a significantly reduced risk of NPC as compared with the wild homozygote -/- genotype, and the serum IL-1α levels were significantly lower in individuals with homozygous +/+ genotypes. No association was found between the -889C/T polymorphisms and risk of NPC, and no statistically significant differences were found between rs3783553 polymorphism and clinical pathology indices. The IL-1A rs3783553 polymorphism might contribute to a risk of developing NPC by affecting the serum IL-1α secretion in the Chinese population.