Interleukin-10 gene promoter variants and susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy; a meta-analysis

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a leading cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in diabetes patients. There is ample evidence that the inflammatory pathways are central to both diabetes and DN. Several studies that examined the link between the interleukin-10 (IL10) polymorphisms and DN risk yielded conflicting results.

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the associations between IL10 promoter polymorphisms and DN risk.

A bibliographic search was carried out on PubMed, Google scholar and Web of Science from the beginning until July 30, 2020. Association between IL10 promoter variants (-1082 A>G, -819 C>T and -592 C>A) and DN risk were assessed by considering diabetes without nephropathy (DWN) as well as healthy controls. Data were retrieved and the pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated.

For the IL10 -1082 A> G analysis, a total of 4 studies with DWN controls (682 cases and 529 controls) and 5 studies with healthy controls (1025 cases and 1625 controls) were considered. For the IL10 -819 C> T analysis, a total of three studies with DWN controls (9619 cases and 445 controls) and 5 studies with healthy controls (1005 cases and 1537 controls) were considered. For the IL10 -592 C> T analysis, a total of 5 studies with DWN controls (819 cases and 645 controls) and 5 studies with healthy controls (1005 cases and 1537 controls) were considered. In addition, there was no evidence of publication bias for IL10 promoter variants. No substantial association was observed between IL10 promoter variants and DN risk.

Our study signifies that polymorphisms of IL10 -1082 A>G, -819 C>T and -592 C>A are not linked with DN risk.