Research Article Association of Interleukin-6 Gene Promoter Polymorphism with Coronary Artery Disease in Pakistani Families

Copyright © 2013 Humayoon Shafiq Satti et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a well-known inflammatory cytokine and suggested to be involved in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). IL-6 gene expression has been investigated with controversy in CADpatients.This study investigates the association of the IL-6 gene expression with CAD, the molecular basis for the regulation of interleukin-6 expression in a Pakistani population. Our data show that the serum IL-6 levels were increased in patients with CAD compared with healthy controls and that the IL-6 gene polymorphism at-174 was more prevalent in CAD cases. There was a statistically significant association between the IL-6 gene polymorphism and CAD, which may be associated with an increased risk for the disease. Moreover, circulating IL-6 and hs-CRP levels were significantly higher in patients with CC genotype