BACKGROUND: Studies have assessed the association between Interleukin-10 (IL-10) -1082A/G polymorphism and diabetic nephropathy (DN) risk, but the results were inconclusive and contradictory. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to investigate the association between IL10-1082A/G polymorphism and DN risk.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: All relevant studies were searched by using PubMed and EMBASE. Data were extracted by 2 authors independently. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.

RESULTS: Nine case-control studies with 4165 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. We found that IL10-1082A/G polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased DN risk (OR=1.21; 95% CI 1.07–1.37; P=0.002). In the subgroup analysis by race, both Caucasians and Asians with IL10-1082A/G polymorphism showed increased DN risk (OR=1.25; 95% CI 1.03–1.52; P=0.03 and OR=1.25; 95% CI 1.04–1.49; P=0.02), respectively. When we deleted the study without diabetes type, the result was not altered (OR=1.21; 95% CI 1.02–1.44; P=0.03). In the subgroup analysis by sample size, both studies with large sample size and studies with small sample size showed increased DN risk (OR=1.16; 95% CI 1.02–1.31; P=0.02 and OR=1.50; 95% CI 1.14–1.98; P=0.004), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis confirmed that IL10-1082A/G polymorphism might contribute to the susceptibility for DN.

Keywords: Genetic Association Studies, Diabetic Nephropathies - genetics, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Interleukin-10 - genetics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics, Risk Factors