Background and objectives: The functional polymorphisms regulating immunologic responses may influence the proliferation or suppression of malignant lymphoma. We examined the association between malignant lymphoma risk and the polymorphisms of the IL-1 gene family [IL-1B -31 C/T, IL-1A -889 C/T, and IL-1RN 86-bp variable number of terminal repeat (VNTR)] and myeloperoxidase (MPO -463 G/A).
Design and methods: The hospital-based case-control study was conducted in Japan. Genotypes were examined in a total of 372 lymphoma cases and 241 non-cancer control subjects. The relative risks were estimated by unconditional logistic regression analysis.
Results: The overall allele distribution of these polymorphisms did not differ substantially between patients and controls; the odds ratios were 0.73 (95% confidence interval, 0.48-1.11) for the T allele carriers of IL-1B relative to the non-carriers, 1.01 (0.56-1.82) for the 2-repeat allele (allele 2) carriers of IL-1RN, 0.96 (0.62-1.48) for the T allele carriers of IL-1A, and 1.04 (0.70-1.57) for the A allele carriers of MPO. Subgroup analyses according to histology [diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBL), follicular lymphoma, low-grade lymphoma of mucosa associated lymphoid tissue, and others] failed to illustrate differences except for DLBL which showed a possible association with IL-1A and IL-1B polymorphisms.
Interpretation and conclusions: Our data show a limited association between these polymorphisms and malignant lymphoma risk in total. The possible association of the IL-1A and IL-1B polymorphisms with DLB-needs further clarification.