Immunocompromised Host Section, Pediatric Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH); Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is an angioproliferative inflammatory condition that occurs commonly in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Inflammatory cytokines and growth factors promote the development of KS. Because physiologically important cytokine polymorphisms modulate host inflammatory responses, we investigated the association between KS and common regulatory polymorphisms in 5 proinflammatory cytokine genes encoding interleukin (IL) IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha, TNF-beta, and IL-6 and in the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL1RN). We also examined the contribution of stromal-derived factor 1 and chemokine receptor 5 (Delta32) polymorphisms to KS development. The population consisted of 115 HIV-infected men with KS and 126 deceased HIV-infected men without KS. The only strong association was observed between an IL6 promoter polymorphism (G-174C) and susceptibility to KS in HIV-infected men (P =.0035). Homozygotes for IL6 allele G, associated with increased IL6 production, were overrepresented among patients with KS (P =.0046), whereas allele C homozygotes were underrepresented (P =.0062). Substantial in vitro evidence indicates that IL-6 contributes to the pathogenesis of KS. Our results show that IL6 promoter genotypes associated with altered gene expression are risk factors for development of KS. Identification of a genetic risk factor for development of KS has important clinical implications for prevention and therapy.