Association of interleukin 1 gene polymorphism with intervertebral disc degeneration risk in the Chinese Han population

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is a major pathological process implicated in low back pain and is a prerequisite to disk herniation. interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) was thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of disc degeneration by increasing the production of extracellular matrix degradation enzymes and by inhibiting extracellular matrix synthesis. IL-1 alpha may provide insight about the etiology of IDD. We performed a hospital-based case-control study involving 200 IDD patients and 200 controls in the Chinese Han population. Genotyping was performed using a custom-by-design 48-Plex single nucleotide polymorphism Scan (TM) Kit. Our study indicated that IL-1 alpha. -899C/T polymorphism could increase the risk of IDD under the homozygous, recessive, and allelic models. Subsequently, we validated this significant association by a meta-analysis. Stratification analysis of ethnicity in this meta-analysis also obtained a significant association among Asians and Caucasians. In conclusion, the present study finds that IL-1 alpha-899C/T polymorphism is associated with the risk of IDD. Larger studies with more diverse ethnic populations are needed to confirm these results.