Evaluation of interleukin 8 +2767 A/T polymorphism in visceral leishmaniasis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluated the relationship between the genetic variations at IL-8 +2767 position with VL pathogenesis among Iranian patients.

METHODS: Three groups including patients with VL clinical presentation and leishmania seropositive (n = 124), patients seropositive but without clinical presentation (n = 82) and healthy controls (n = 63) were selected to conduct this cross-sectional study. Polymorphism at +2767 position of IL-8 was investigated using PCR-RFLP techniques. Anti-leishmania antibody titration was evaluated by the immunoflorescence technique.

RESULTS: We observed higher significant frequencies +2767 A/A and A/T genotypes in Group 1 compared to Group 2 and healthy controls (P = 0.001). Also, patients in Group 1 carrying A/A genotype showed higher titer of anti-leishmania antibody than patients with A/T and T/T genotypes (P = 0.05). The validity of the data was analyzed using Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), as well as χ2 tests.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the IL-8 +2767 polymorphism is significantly involved in impaired immune responses against VL and it could be considered as a risk factor for the VL progress.