Evaluating the clinical effect of interleukin 10 polymorphism on Egyptian children infected with chronic amoebiasis

Background: Since intestinal inflammation associated with chronic amoebiasis is regulated by interleukin-10 (IL-10), single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at 1082, guanine (G) to adenine (A) alleles, is hypothesized to influence disease severity. Objective: To investigate the potential link between IL-10-1082G/A gene polymorphism and diversity of clinical pediatric amoebiasis. Subjects and Methods: We conducted a case-control study that included 100 selected children of chronic amoebiasis clinically complaining of chronic intermittent diarrhea (lasting > 4 weeks) sometime alternating with constipation, distention, flatulence and abdominal cramps, and 100 healthy controls. Stool examination of fresh and formol-ether concentrated specimens using saline, and Lugol's iodine wet mounts were performed to diagnose chronic amoebiasis. Differentiation between E. histolytica and E. dispar was achieved by ELISA detection of fecal E. histolytica adhesion antigen. Identification of polymorphism was performed using PCR amplification followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). The potential link of Il-10 polymorphism was assessed by corelating the detected genotype with diarrhea grading, weight, and cyst counts.Results: Results showed a significant association (P<0.005) between IL-10 polymorphism and disease severity, weight, and cyst count. The A allele was linked to severe underweight (35%), and symptoms (43.4%), while the G allele correlated with a heavy cyst load (50.7%). Regression analysis revealed associations of the G allele with normal weight (OR=2.7), mild symptoms (OR=3.8), and high cyst count (OR=3.5). Regarding A allele regression analysis showed that, the following were independently associated with A allele, sever underweight (OR=2.8) and sever symptoms (OR=2.7). Conclusion: These findings highlight the potential role of IL-10 gene polymorphism in influencing the clinical course of pediatric chronic amoebiasis. Further research should explore IL-10 levels and treatment outcomes to enhance our understanding of this potential link.