Interleulkin 6, tumour necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 1 beta and interleukin 1 receptor antagonist promoter or coding gene polymorphisms in multiple myeloma

Proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis fac tor alpha (TNF-alpha) and IL-1 beta are considered to be involved in the pa thogenesis of multiple myeloma (MM). In the present study, we examined a G/ C polymorphism at position -174 in the promoter region of IL-6, a biallelic polymorphism at position -308 in the promoter region of TNF-alpha, the Taq I restriction fragment length polymorphism in exon 5 of IL-1 beta and a var iable number of identical tandem repeat polymorphisms in intron 2 of IL-1 r eceptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) genes. The alleles of these loci are known to i nfluence the level of production of the cytokines and the IL-1Ra. Seventy-t hree patients with MM, 27 with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined signif icance (MGUS) and 129 healthy individuals were included. No difference was found between patients and healthy controls or between MM and MGUS patients in the distributions of genotypes and frequencies of alleles of the IL-6 ( -174), TNF-alpha (-308), IL-1 beta TaqI and IL-1Ra gene polymorphisms. No a ssociations between the polymorphisms at the loci under study and clinical factors such as age, sex, clinical stage at onset and M-protein type were o bserved. Our results indicate that the cytokine (IL-6, TNF-alpha and IL-1 b eta) and IL-Ra gene polymorphisms do not confer susceptibility to the devel opment of MM.