Cytokine Gene Polymorphisms in Iraqi Patients with Viral Hepatitis

Osama B. Al-Saffar Ph.D in Immunogenetic from the University of Baghdad, Iraq.2015Lecturer at Madenat Al-elem University College, Iraq since 2010Specializes in the Immunology and Molecular Biology science, published several science papers in local and international journals.

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that is most commonly caused by one of the five types of hepatitis viruses; A, B, C, D and E. These types are of a greatest concern because of the burden of illness and death they cause and the potential for outbreaks and epidemic spread worldwide; in particular, types B (HBV) and C (HCV). Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the association between serum level of five cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, TNF- and IFN-Gamma) and their gene polymorphisms defined by polymerase chain reaction with sequence specific primers (SSP-PCR) at 11 positions (IL2-330, IL2+166, IL4-1098, IL4-590, IL4+33, IL10-1082, IL10-819, IL10-592, TNF-308, TNF-238 and IFNGamma+874) in samples of HBV and HCV infected Iraqi patients, in order to identify specific immunogenetic markers (cytokine SNPs) that may be associated with HBV and HCV infections.