Background and purpose: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is considered to be one of the most important etiological factors of liver complication around the world. Interactions of host immune responses with HBV have a crucial role in the outcome of the infection. IL12 is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine that stimulates natural killer cells and T-lymphocytes to produce IFN-γ, promotes T-helper 1 responses, and expands CD8+cytotoxic T-cell activity. These unique properties of IL12 indicate that it might play an important role in control and clearance of HBV. In addition, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are presumed to be linked to differential production of cytokines levels. This study investigated the association of IL12B rs6887695 G/C polymorphism with chronic HBV infection.
Materials and methods: Genotypes distribution of IL12B rs6887695 was determined in 120 chronic HBV infected patients and 120 healthy controls using polymerase chain restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method between 2013 and 2015.
Results: The frequencies of rs6887695 GG, GC and CC genotypes in the patients with chronic infection were 56.7%, 36.7% and 6.6%, respectively and in healthy controls were 51.7%, 42.5%, and 5.8%, respectively. No statistically significant difference was detected in IL12B rs6887695 genotypes between the patients and controls (P =0.65).
Conclusion: IL12 plays an essential role in immune response against HBV infection; however, present findings suggest that IL12B rs6887695 SNP was not associated with chronic HBV in the Iranian population studied.