Background: IL-18 is a multifunctional cytokine capable of inducing either Th1 or Th2 polarization depending on the immunologic milieu. IL-18 is detected at the materno-fetal interface very soon in early pregnancy. Two polymorphisms in the promoter region of the IL-18 gene at positions of -607 and -137 appear to have functional impacts.
Objective: This study attempts to evaluate the frequency of these two polymorphisms in the IL-18 gene promoter in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) and normal pregnant women.
Subjects and methods: One hundred and two RSA patients and 103 healthy pregnant women were enrolled in this study. Single nucleotide polymorphisms of the IL-18 gene at positions -607 (C/A) and -137 (G/C) were analyzed by the sequence-specific PCR method.
Results: There was no significant association between the allele, genotype, and haplotype frequencies of the two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL-18 gene promoter and RSA.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that IL-18 gene promoter polymorphisms at positions -607 and -137 did not confer susceptibility to RSA in southern Iranian patients.