Association between IL-6 genetic polymorphisms and primary open-angle glaucoma risk in Chinese population

Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is a one of the most common eye diseases in the world, especially in China. Many inflammatory markers are likely to be closely related to the development of POAG, especially cytokines. The aim of our investigation is to reveal the potential association of three interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene SNPs on primary open-angle glaucoma risk factors in Chinese. A case-control study of 220 cases of diagnosed POAG patients and 248 healthy controls in Chinese was enrolled. The three single nucleotide polymorphisms of IL-6 (-1363T/G, -572G/C and -174G/C) were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method, and the results were verified by sequencing method. The results indicated that the distribution of the IL-6 -174G/C polymorphisms shared no significant differences between patients and controls, while the allelic frequencies of all of G in IL-6 -1363T/G, C in -572G/C were significantly increased in POAG patients. In conclusion, the IL-6 -1363T/G and -572G/C polymorphisms may contribute to genetic susceptibility to POAG in Chinese, and these genetic variants might be used as molecular markers for predicting the onset risk of POAG.