Interleukin-12B gene polymorphism and visceral Leishmaniasis in Iraqi patients

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine the role of IL12_-1188 genetic polymorphism in susceptibility or resistant to visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) by studying single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the gene of IL12B at position -1188 in 44 Iraqi VL patients and 40 healthy controls. IL-12 serum level showed no significant difference between patients and controls (5.33 ± 3.26 vs.2.17 ± 0.36 pg/ml). In addition, SNP analysis revealed that neither genotypes nor alleles of IL12B_-1188 revealed a significant variation between VL patients and controls. To determine the impact of IL12B_-1188 genotypes on IL-12 serum level, VL patients and controls were distributed according to their serum level in the three genotypes of this cytokine. It was found that IL12_-1188 CC genotype demonstrated a significant increased level of IL-12 (26.16 ±19.76 pg/ml) in patients compared to CA and AA genotype (1.35 ± 0.35 pg/ml and 1.48 ± 0.23 pg/ml respectively) of patients.

Keywords: Visceral leishmaniasis, Interleukin-12, Single nucleotide polymorphism