A promoter polymorphism (rs3806798) of interleukin‐15 gene is associated with chronic hepatitis B virus infection in the Chinese Han population. (25th April 2014) - Zhang, X.
Summary This study aimed to investigate the association between the polymorphisms of IL‐15 gene and susceptibility to chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the Chinese Han population. A total of 234 patients with chronic HBV infection and 150 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls in the Chinese population were enrolled in this case–control study. Genotyping of ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL‐15 gene was carried out via Sequenom MassARRAY system. The association analysis demonstrated that SNP rs3806798 (A/T) had a significant difference in the distribution between patients and healthy controls (P = 0.033). Moreover, a significantly increased risk of HBV infection was found to be associated with IL‐15 rs3806798 A allele among male patients and HBeAg‐negative patients, compared with IL‐15 rs3806798 T allele (P = 0.003; P = 0.046, respectively). Furthermore, haplotype analysis revealed that haplotype ATAGG (rs3806798, rs12508866, rs1519551, rs6819823 and rs2857261, respectively) in block 1 was significantly associated with HBV infection (P = 0.022). In conclusion, we found an association between IL‐15 rs3806798 and the risk of chronic HBV infection in a sample of Chinese Han population.