Polymorphism in the IL-8 gene promoter and the risk of acne vulgaris in a Pakistani population

Interleukin-8 (il-8) is a well-known inflammatory chemokine and suggested to be involved in the development of acne vulgaris. this study investigates il-8 plasma levels in acne patients and healthy controls and the molecular basis for the regulation of the il-8 gene in a pakistani population. patients with acne vulgaris (n = 264) and healthy individuals (n = 264) were enrolled in this investigation. plasma il-8 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa). the genotyping for il-8 gene was performed by polymerase chain reaction (pcr) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (rflp). our data showed a statistically significant increase in il-8 levels from acne patients compared with healthy subjects (154.2 ± 52.1 pg/ml in patients vs. 101.6 ± 33.5 pg/ml in controls,p<0.0001). the il-8-251t>a (rs4073) polymorphism was significantly higher in patients with acne compared with the control group (p=0.013). there was a significant difference between the t and a alleles from acne cases and controls (odds ratio or = 1.6,95%ci = 1.16-2.19,p = 0.003). logistic-regression analysis showed that the increased il-8 levels,and the il-8-251t>a polymorphism were significantly associated with acne. our data suggest that the elevated il-8 levels and the il-8-251t>a polymorphism may be associated with acne vulgaris in the study population. copyright© summer 2015,iran j allergy asthma immunol. all rights reserved.