IL-10 gene polymorphism c.-592CÂ >Â A increases HPV infection susceptibility and influences IL-10 levels in HPV infected women

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) influences HPV infection and viral persistence, favoring cervical immunosuppression and cervical carcinogenesis. IL-10 levels may be influenced by HPV itself and by IL-10 polymorphisms, including rs1800872 (c.-592C > A). Therefore, we evaluated the influence of IL-10 c.-592C > A polymorphism in HPV infection and in IL-10 plasmatic/cervical levels in HPV infected and non-infected women. The study included 174 infected and 186 non-infected patients. Cervical epithelial scrapings were obtained to determine HPV DNA presence PCR. Peripheral blood samples were obtained to determine IL-10 polymorphism by PCR-RFLP, while IL-10 levels were assessed by ELISA. HPV was more prevalent among allele A carriers (p < 0.001), with IL-10 c.-592C > A polymorphism being associated with HPV infection. As demonstrated by binary logistic regression analysis, heterozygotes [ORadj = 2.081 95% CI (1.222-3.544), p = 0.007] and homozygotes [ORadj = 3.745 95% CI (1.695-8.271), p = 0.001] showed approximately 2 and 4 time's greater odds, respectively, of presenting HPV when compared to CC patients. Moreover, HPV infected patients carrying polymorphic allele A showed higher IL-10 cervical levels (p = 0.039). Binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that IL-10 cervical levels were not independently associated to CA + AA genotypes (p = 0.162), neither to HPV's presence (p = 0.061), thus IL-10 cervical levels are possibly increased because of both HPV and allele A presence. Taken together, these findings suggest that IL-10 c.-592C > A polymorphism is independently associated with HPV infection susceptibility exerting influence on IL-10 cervical levels in HPV infected women, thus contributing to cervical carcinogenesis.