A meta-analysis on associations of IL-6 and IL-10 polymorphisms with susceptibility to ischemic stroke

Background: Some previous studies already explored associations of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) polymorphisms with ischemic stroke (IS). However, the results were conflicting. In this meta-analysis, we aimed to better analyze the relationship between IL-6/IL-10 polymorphisms and IS in a larger pooled population.

Methods: We performed a systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and CNKI. We calculated pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to estimate associations between IL-6/IL-10 polymorphisms and IS.

Results: Totally 37 studies were included for analyses. A significant association with IS was observed for IL-10 rs1800896 polymorphism in AA versus GG + GA (recessive model, p = .001, OR = 1.42, 95%CI 1.15-1.75) in overall population. Further subgroup analyses showed that IL-6 rs1800795 was significantly associated with IS in Asians in GG versus GC + CC (dominant model, p = .0005, OR = 0.74, 95%CI 0.62-0.88), CC versus GG + GC (recessive model, p = .003, OR = 1.61, 95%CI 1.17-2.21) and G versus C (allele model, p = .01, OR = 0.74, 95%CI 0.58-0.93), whereas IL-10 rs1800896 polymorphism was significantly associated with cerebral infarction (CI) in GG versus GA + AA (dominant model, p = .02, OR = 2.04, 95%CI 1.14-3.64), GA versus GG + AA (overdominant model, p = .03, OR = 0.50, 95%CI 0.27-0.93) and G versus A (allele model, p = .01, OR = 1.92, 95%CI 1.16-3.17).

Conclusions: Our findings indicated that IL-6 rs1800795 polymorphism was significantly associated with individual susceptibility to IS in Asians, but not in Caucasians. In addition, IL-10 rs1800896 polymorphism was also significantly associated with individual susceptibility to IS, especially for CI.