ETHNIC VARIATION IN INTERLEUKIN-6 –174 (G/C) POLYMORPHISM IN THE MALAYSIAN POPULATION
Gan G-G*, Subramaniam R, Lian L-H, Nadarajan VS
*Corresponding Author: Professor Dr. Gin-Gin Gan, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Tel.: +603-79-492-429; Fax: +603-79-556-936; E-mail: gangg@ummc.edu.my
page: 53

INTRODUCTION

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic inflammatory cytokine that has been implicated in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular diseases and many different types of cancers [1-5]. The role of IL-6 in mediating humoral and cellular immune response relating to inflammation and tissue injury has been well established [6]. Several studies have demonstrated that elevated IL-6 level is associated with vascular smooth muscle growth and increased production of acute phase protein, thereby contributing to possible development of cardiovascular disease as well as Alzheimer’s disease [3,5,7,8]. The IL-6 –174G allele had been demonstrated to be associated with higher IL-6 production [7]. This polymorphism affects the circulating serum IL-6 level and IL-6 gene transcription. There have been extensive studies on IL-6 gene polymorphisms in different diseases and interestingly, there is also significant variation in the frequencies of this polymorphism among different ethnic groups. It was reported that frequency of the –174C allele is much lower in the Japanese, Africans and Asian Indians compared to European Caucasians [9-12]. It appears that the majority of Asian populations carry the GG genotypes, ranging from 75.0-100.0%, while Caucasians in the West had a higher frequency of CC genotypes, ranging from 18.0- 32.0% [7,9,10,13-15]. Within the Chinese communities in China, there is also a difference in IL-6 allele frequency. A recent study of the Chinese Han population found that 99.57% carried the GG genotype and none were found to carry the CC genotype [16]. Malaysia is a multiethnic country where the three major ethnic groups are Malays, Chinese and Indians. The Malays are the major population group (70.0%) and are made up of a mixture of people extant in Southeast Asia as early as 3000 years ago [17]. The Chinese account for about 20.0% of the total population of Malaysia and majority originating from Southern China; the Indians account for about 10.0% of the total population and were mainly immigrants from Southern India. There have not been any published reports on the IL-6 polymorphism in the Malay or the local Indian populations. A study published by Chua et al. [18] in Malaysia which studied the gene frequency of IL-6 in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients found that the homozygous G genotype was significantly higher in SLE patients compared with healthy control subjects [18]. However, there was no racial breakdown of these subjects. In view of the functional implications of the IL-6 gene, we proposed to study the prevalence of the IL-6 –174 (G/C) polymorphism in the Malaysian population. We hope these results can be used as a reference for further studies in determining the disease risk including coronary artery disease among these groups of patients.



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