BACKGROUND: Ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction are fatal diseases and are among the top 10 causes of death in Korea, including arterial thromboembolic events. Many previous studies have described the function of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in arterial thromboembolic events and the association between promoter single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (rs1800795; -174, G/C) of the IL-6 gene. However, these results were controversial. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to more precisely assess the association between the SNP of the IL-6 gene and susceptibility to arterial thromboembolic events.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We used PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, and Korean Studies Information Service System (KISS) electronic databases. Comprehensive Meta-analysis software (Corporation, NJ) was used to evaluate the relationship between rs1800795 SNP of IL-6 gene and risk of arterial thromboembolic events. Odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI), and P value were also calculated. The 13 eligible studies were analyzed in the meta-analysis.

RESULTS: The present meta-analysis found that rs1800795 SNP of IL-6 gene is not significantly associated with susceptibility to arterial thromboembolic events (C allele vs. G allele, OR=1.04, 95% CI=0.91–1.19, P=0.619; CC vs. CG+GG, OR=1.09, 95% CI=0.91–1.31, P=0.364; CC+CG vs. GG, OR=0.97, 95% CI=0.78–1.21, P=0.763, respectively), and the SNP of IL-6 gene also did not show any significant association with ischemic stroke or myocardial infarction (P>0.05 in each model).

CONCLUSIONS: We found that rs1800795 SNP of IL-6 gene was not related to arterial thromboembolic events. However, further study will be needed to confirm these results.

Keywords: Interleukin-6, Polymorphism, Genetic