Short Communication Interleukin-10 21082 Gene Polymorphism and Susceptibility to Cervical Cancer Among Japanese Women

Polymorphisms in cytokine genes can influence immune responses to human papillomavirus infection, possibly modifying risks of cervical cancer. Using an amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction method, we analyzed a single nucleotide poly-morphism (A/G) at position 21082 in interleukin-10 promoter region in 440 Japanese women: 173 women with normal cytology, 163 women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and 104 women with invasive cervical cancer. The carrier frequency of interleukin-10 21082 G alleles associated with higher interleukin-10 production increased with disease severity: 9.8 % for normal cytology; 19.6 % for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia; 29.8 % for invasive cer-vical cancer (P for trend,0.001). Among cytologically normal women, human papillomavirus infections were more common in those who were positive for an interleukin-10 21082 G allele (P 0.04). In conclusion, our data suggest that interleukin-10 21082 gene polymorph-ism may serve as a marker of genetic susceptibility to cervical cancer among Japanese women. Key words: cervical cancer – interleukin-10 – human papillomaviru