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Abstract
Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) including Graves' disease (GD) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) are common autoimmune endocrine disorders. Interleukin-4 (IL-4), a cytokine secreted by T cells, plays a critical role in antigen-specific Th2 responses. The IL-4 gene is highly polymorphic and it has been reported that the polymorphism at –590 (T/C, rs2243250) in the promoter region of IL-4 may contribute to the development of AITDs. Recently, several case-control studies have examined the association of genetic variants of IL-4 with AITDs. However, the results of these studies remain conflicting. To systematically study the role of IL-4 in the pathogenesis of AITDs, we conducted a meta-analysis including 11 eligible studies (1847 cases and 2068 healthy controls). Fixed-effect or random-effect models were used to calculate pooled odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Our results revealed a significant association between the IL-4 genetic variant (−590, T/C, rs2243250) and the risk of developing AITDs (TC + TT versus TT genotype: OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.083–3.091, p = 0.024). These findings demonstrate that the IL-4 rs2243250 genetic variant might play a key role in the development of AITDs.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
The work is supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number 81202103, 31370810, 81472714); Zhejiang Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant number Bsh1202065).