Associations between IL-6 Variations and Congenital Heart Disease Incidence among Chinese Han People

Associations between IL-1α, IL-1β, TNFα, and IL-6 variations, and susceptibility to transposition of the great arteries

Background

To evaluate the relationship between IL-1α -889C/T (rs1800587), IL-1β -511C > T (rs16944), TNFα -308G > A (rs1800629), TNFα -238G > A (rs361525), IL-6 -174G > C (rs1800795), and IL-6 -572G > C (rs1800796) polymorphisms and the susceptibility to transposition of the great arteries (TGA).

Methods

A prospective analysis was performed on mothers whose newborns were diagnosed as having TGA. For each case of TGA, a mother who gave birth to a healthy neonate in the same period was randomly selected for the control group. The sample size was calculated before planning the study with 80% power and 5% alpha.

Results

Twenty-seven mothers whose newborn had TGA anomalies (group 1) and 27 mothers whose newborn had no TGA (group 2) were included in the study. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of maternal age, pregestational body mass index, gestational age at birth and infant sex (p > 0.05). The genotype and allele distributions of IL-1α -889C/T (rs1800587), IL-1β -511C > T (rs16944), TNFα -308G > A (rs1800629), TNFα -238G > A (rs361525), IL-6 -174G > C (rs1800795) and IL-6 -572G > C (rs1800796) gene variants were not different between the two groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

There was no relation between IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα promoter gene polymorphisms and TGA occurrence in our study group.

Trial registration: This present prospective case–control study was conducted in Baskent University Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, between May 2020 and November 2021. Ethical approval was obtained from the university’s Clinical Research Ethics Commitee (No: KA20/211) in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

The Role of Interleukin-6 Family Members in Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular disease is one of the main causes of human mortality. Cytokines play crucial roles in the development of cardiovascular disease. Interleukin (IL)-6 family members are a series of cytokines, including IL-6, IL-11, IL-30, IL-31, OSM, LIF, CNTF, CT-1, CT-2, and CLC, that regulate multiple biological effects. Experimental and clinical evidence shows that IL-6 family members are closely related to cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, aortic dissection, cardiac fibrosis, and cardiomyopathy. This review mainly discusses the role of IL-6 family members in cardiovascular disease for the sake of identifying possible intervention targets for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment.