Genetic analysis of the contribution of IL10 to systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective. To study the contribution of the IL10 gene to the susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods. Analysis by fluorescent-semiautomated genotyping of a dinucleotide repeat located in the promoter region of the IL10 locus (microsatellite G). Results. No significant difference was found in the frequencies of the microsatellite alleles of 330 Mexican patients with SLE compared to 368 controls from the same population. Two-point linkage analyses were carried out using 13 Mexican, 13 Swedish, and 8 Icelandic families with 2 or more cases with SLE. No linkage was revealed between IL10 and SLE, using a variety of parameter settings. Conclusion. Our results do not support that the IL10 gene contributes to the susceptibility to SLE in the populations we studied.