Cytokine Gene Polymorphisms in Iraqi Patients with Viral Hepatitis

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that is most commonly caused by one of the five types of hepatitis viruses; A, B, C, D and E. These types are of a greatest concern because of the burden of illness and death they cause and the potential for outbreaks and epidemic spread worldwide; in particular, types B (HBV) and C (HCV). Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the association between serum level of five cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, TNF-¿ and IFN-¿) and their gene polymorphisms defined by polymerase chain reaction with sequence specific primers (SSP-PCR) at 11 positions (IL2-330, IL2+166, IL4-1098, IL4-590, IL4+33, IL10-1082, IL10-819, IL10-592, TNF-308, TNF-238 and IFN¿+874) in samples of HBV and HCV infected Iraqi patients, in order to identify specific immunogenetic markers (cytokine SNPs) that may be associated with HBV and HCV infections.