Associations of polymorphisms in interleukins with tuberculosis: Evidence from a meta-analysis

Background Associations between polymorphisms in interleukins and tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility were already reported by many publications. The aim of this meta-analysis was to clarify associations between polymorphisms in interleukins and TB by combing the results of all relevant publications. Methods Eligible publications were searched from Pubmed, Embase, WOS and CNKI. We used Review Manager to combine the results of individual studies. Results Fifty-five studies were included in this study. IL-2 rs2069762 (recessive comparison), IL-4 rs2243250 (recessive and allele comparisons), IL-6 rs1800795 (dominant, recessive and allele comparisons), IL-8 rs4073 (dominant, recessive and allele comparisons), IL-10 rs1800871 (dominant, recessive and allele comparisons) and IL-10 rs1800896 (recessive comparison) polymorphisms were all significantly associated with TB in the total population. In subgroup analyses, we found positive results were mainly driven by the Asians. Conclusions Collectively, this meta-analysis proved that IL-2 rs2069762, IL-4 rs2243250, IL-6 rs1800795, IL-8 rs4073, IL-10 rs1800871 and IL-10 rs1800896 polymorphisms may confer susceptibility to TB, especially for Asians.