No association between IL-10 promoter gene polymorphism and heart failure or rejection following cardiac transplantation

Expression of interleukin (IL)-10 influences the frequency of rejection eve nts after organ transplantation. Therefore, 70 heart transplant patients we re genotyped for three single nucleotide polymorphisms and a microsatellite polymorphism in the promotor region of the IL-10 gene. The promoter region was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and genotyped by a colorometric oligo ligation assay and gene scan analysis, respectively, Patient groups consisted of patients suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy or ischaemic he art disease. Cardiac donors served as control group. No correlation was fou nd between genotypes and heart failure or rejection after heart transplanta tion. This may indicate that in heart transplantation, the total balance of cytokine production is more important for post-transplant rejection activi ties than the levels of IL-10 as such.