PROMOTOR POLYMORPHISM OF IL-4, IL-6, AND IL-10 GENES AMONG PATIENTS WITH BREAST CANCER

In spite of extreme controversies on possible role of cytokines as regulating factors in cancer pathology, their role during carcinogenesis is beyond doubts. Since regulation of cytokine gene expression is known to proceed, mainly, at the level of transcription, from promoter region, we have undertaken an analysis of genotypic frequencies in promoter regions of IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10 genes for a group of relatively healthy women and patients with breast cancer. Some specific features of allelic distribution have been found in groups of healthy women, among cohorts with hereditary predisposition, including the patients with breast cancer who had clustering of the disease in families (i.e., mother, grandmother, or sister been affected).