Lack of Association of IL6 polymorphism with the susceptibility to Chagas disease in Latin American cohorts

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to analyze IL6 rs1800795 genetic variant in the susceptibility to Trypanosoma cruzi infection and in the development of chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC), in four independent Latin America cohorts. A total of 3,087 individuals from Latin American countries (Colombia, Bolivia, Argentina, and Peru) were studied. In all cohorts, patients were classified as seropositive for T. cruzi antigens (n= 1,963) and seronegative (n=1,124). Based on clinical evaluation, the seropositive patients, were classified as CCC (n= 900) and asymptomatic (n=1,063). No statistically significant differences in the frequency of IL6 rs1800795 between seropositive and seronegative, or between CCC and asymptomatic patients, were found. Furthermore, after the meta-analysis of these cohorts, no statistically significant differences were observed. Our results do not support a contribution of IL6 rs1800795 genetic variant in the susceptibility to the infection and the development of chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy, in the studied cohorts.