Association of interleukin-6 gene polymorphism with susceptibility, neurological deficit and recurrence risk of cerebral infarction

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore if the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of IL-6 was related to the susceptibility, severity of neurological deficit and the recurrence risk of cerebral infarction (CI). Methods: Three hundred and eighty-two patients with CI and 385 healthy controls were selected for IL-6 gene promotor region-174G /C, -572C/G, -597G/A polymorphism by SNaPshot SNP typing. The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and Essen Stroke Risk Score (ESRS) were adopted to evaluate the neurological deficit and stroke relapse risk in CI patients. Results: The rs1800796 polymorphism of the IL-6 gene showed a significant correlation with CI, and its GG genotype increased the risk of CI (CG+GG vs CC, P=0. 019). The dominant model of rs1800796 was related to severity of neurological deficit and the recurrence risk of cerebral infarction (CG+GG vs CC. P =0. 048 and P= 0. 019). No association was observed between rs1800795/rs1800797 and CI. Conclusion: IL-6 genetic polymorphism serves as a potential biomarker to determine the susceptibility of CI, neurological deficit and the risk of stroke recurrence.