Association of IL-1Ra and IL-4 Gene VNTRs with Susceptibility to Prostate Cancer in Turkish Population

Abstract—Prostate cancer (PCa) is a very common type of cancer among men. It was revealed that Interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) genes had important functions such as development of prostate cells or regulating the inflammatory processes. The important role of cytokines in inflammatory mechanisms leads to the possibility that polymorphisms of these genes may contribute to the formation of prostate cancer. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association of variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphisms in the IL-1Ra and IL-4 genes with PCa in Turkish population. 70 prostate cancer patients and 110 healthy controls were involved in a case-control study. Genotype distributions and allele frequencies for the IL-1Ra intron 2 (rs2234663) and IL-4 intron 3 (rs79071878) VNTR polymorphisms were analyzed by using PCR technique. No statistically significant association was identified for both IL-1Ra intron 2 and IL-4 intron 3 polymorphisms between PCa patients and controls (P > 0.05). IL-1Ra intron 2 and IL-4 intron-3 VNTR polymorphisms were not found to be risk factors in prostate cancer and its development in Turkish population.