Evaluation of Interleukin-8-251 T/A Polymorphisms in Visceral Leishmaniasis

Background: interleukin (il)-8 plays important roles in the recruitment and activation of immune cells during visceral leishmaniasis (vl). genetic variations in il-8 modulate the expression of il-8 protein and may be associated with vl. this study aimed to evaluate polymorphisms at the il-8 ?251 position in vl patients.methods: this cross-sectional study was performed on three groups: leishmania-seropositive patients with clinical symptoms of vl (n=91), seropositive patients without clinical symptoms (n=104), and healthy controls (n=110). polymorphisms at the il-8?251 position were analyzed using allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (pcr). anti-leishmania antibody titers were assessed by immunofluorescence. results: il-8?251 polymorphism was significantly associated with vl (p < 0.002). the il-8?251 t/t genotype was significantly higher in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3 (p < 0.002). the validity of the data was analyzed using hardy-weinberg equilibrium and one-way analysis of variance (anova), as well as x2 tests.conclusions: il-8?251 polymorphism was significantly associated with impaired immune responses in vl and might be considered a risk factor for disease development.