The polymorphism at position-174 of the IL-6 gene is not associated with inflammatory bowel disease

Objective Inflammatory bower diseases (IBD) are multifactorial disorders, c haracterized by failure to limit the inflammatory response to luminal antig ens, Genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis, but little is known about the accountable genes, Increased secretion of pro-inflammat ory cytokines appears crucial in the initiation of the inflammatory respons e, Methods To evaluate the role of the IL-6 gene in IBD, a functionally releva nt polymorphism in the promoter region (G/C at position -174) has been geno typed in 169 patients with Crohn's disease (CD), 133 patients with ulcerati ve colitis (UC) and 440 healthy controls by using restriction fragment leng th polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, Results No significant differences were apparent in the allele, genotype an d carrier frequencies between patients and controls. Conclusion High secretion of IL-6 does not seem to play a major role in the genetic predisposition to IBD, for I Gastroenterol Hepatol 13:45-47 (C) 20 01 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.