ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of interleukin-10 and the variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) of CA dinucleotide of Interferon-gamma are reported to have an influence on the production of IL-10 and IFN-gamma respectively. The aims of this study are to investigate the gene polymorphisms of IL-10 and IFN-gamma in Korean renal transplant patients and to assess their impacts on the clinical courses of renal allografts. METHODS: The one hundred eighty-five patients who received renal allografts and were followed for more than 5 months from 1991 to May 2000 in Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, and ninety-eight normal healty controls were investigated. Three SNPs in promoter region of IL-10 gene were assayed by PCR-RFLP. The (CA) dinucleotide repeat polymorphism of IFN-gamma were assessed by evaluation of size of PCR products. RESULTS: Allele*2 and allele*3 were major alleles of IFN-gamma in our study and there was no significant difference of alleleic and genotypic distribution between recipient and control group. The -592*A and -592*C in the IL-10 promotor region were tightly linked to -819*T and -819*C, respectively. The frequency of -1082*G/*A genotype of recipent group was 7.0% and smaller than that of control group (17.3%, p=0.02). The *G/*G genotype (IL-10 high producer) was absent in all our study subjects, which was quite different from Western studies. IFN-gamma and IL-10 gene polymorphisms had no impact on the incidence and severity of acute rejection, and long term graft fucntion after transplantation. CONCLUSION: Unlike IFN-gamma the SNPs of IL-10 promoter were quite different from those in Western patients. The frequency of -1,082*G/*A genotype of IL-10 was smaller in recipient group. In conclusion, the polymorphisms of IL-10 and IFN-gamma had no impact on the clinical courses of renal allografts under the current therapeutic strategies.