Background: Cytokines are key mediators of the inflammatory response to surgery and polymorphic sites in their genes have been shown to affect cytokine production in vitro. The aim of this study was to determine whether cytokine gene polymorphisms affect cytokine production in vivo in patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair.
Methods: One hundred patients admitted for elective AAA repair had plasma levels of interleukin (IL) 1beta, IL-6, IL-10 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) alpha measured at induction of anaesthesia and 24 h after operation. Genotypes for each patient were determined using induced heteroduplex genotyping for the following loci: IL-1beta + 3953, IL-6 - 174, IL-10 - 1082/-592 and TNF-alpha - 308.
Results: Patients with an IL-10 - 1082 A allele had a significantly higher IL-10 response to surgery than those without an A allele (P = 0.030) and there was also a significant difference in IL-10 response between patients with IL-10 - 1082 AA genotypes and those with GG genotypes (P = 0.030).
Conclusion: Elective AAA repair results in a measurable cytokine response. In this study the magnitude of this response was not affected by the individual patient's cytokine gene polymorphisms.
Copyright 2003 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.