Interleukin-6 polymorphisms in HCC patients chronically infected with HCV.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a primary liver malignancy in which the risk of development is always multifunctional. Interleukin-6 is a proinflammatory and multifunctional cytokine, which plays an important role in the immune response, haematopoiesis and defence against viral infection. We aimed to evaluate the frequency of mutations (rs2069837 and rs17147230) associated with genetic risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in Khyber Pakthunkhwa population. A total of 72 hepatocellular carcinoma cases and 38 controls were included in this study. The genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood cells and genotyping was performed using T-ARMS-PCR technique. Our results show a significant increase risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma with the mutation within gene with heterozygous G allele (rs2069837) (OR = 10.667, 95%CI = 3.923-29.001,  = < 0.0001) and heterozygous T allele (rs17147230) (OR = 75.385, 95%CI = 9.797-580.065,  = < 0.0001). However, under recessive gene model the results were insignificant in case of rs2069837 (OR = 0.605, 95%CI = 0.217-1.689,  = 0.337), while significant in case of rs17147230 (OR = 0.298, 95%CI = 0.121-0.734,  = 0.0085). In conclusion, mutation is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma susceptibility. More related studies with other associated interleukins and their whole gene sequencing will be required.