Studying the role of IL-1B genetic polymorphisms in the development of primary immune thrombocytopenia among Egyptian children

Background: Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an acquired autoimmune disorder which causes disturbance in the immune homeostasis and self-tolerance. Aim: This study aimed at investigating IL-10-31, IL-10-511 and IL-1RA (VNTR) genetic polymorphism in children with acute and chronic ITP to investigate their possible role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Subjects and methods: The current study included 50 ITP patients "25 acute and 25 chronic" and 50 matched related healthy controls. Genotyping was performed by using PCR-RFLP technique. Results: IL-10-31 genotyping revealed no statistically significant difference between the C/C (wild), T/C or T/T (variants) among acute, chronic patients or the control group. Moreover, IL-10-511 genotyping revealed no statistically significant difference regarding the T/T (Wild), T/C and C/C (variants) among the three studied groups. There was also no significant difference between IL1RA genotypes or its allelic distribution and the studied groups. Meanwhile, patients harboring wild IL-10-31 genotype were found to have a significantly lower mean platelet count compared to the other genotypes (P-value = 0.004). Conclusion: Our study results suggest that there is no association between IL-10-31, IL-10-511 and IL-1RA (VNTR) genetic polymorphisms and the development of ITP in the Egyptian pediatric group. However, more extensive studies involving larger numbers of patients in addition to interleukin level assessment are recommended.