Epstein-Barr Virus Infection and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Promoter Region of Interleukin 10 Gene in Patients With Hodgkin Lymphoma

● Context.—Hodgkin lymphoma is a neoplastic disease in which the immune system plays a major role in its patho-genesis. Interleukin 10 (IL-10), an immunosuppressive cy-tokine actively produced in patients with Hodgkin lympho-mas, favors the survival of the Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells. Individual variations in IL-10 levels may be due, in part, to the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the IL10 gene promoter. Objective.—To evaluate whether particular single nucle-otide polymorphisms in the IL10 gene are found more fre-quently in Hodgkin lymphoma cases associated with Ep-stein-Barr virus infection. Design.—The identification of single nucleotide poly-morphisms at positions-1082 and-819/-592 in the IL10 gene was performed by polymerase chain reaction and re