IL-9 and IL-10 Single-Nucleotide Variants and Serum Levels in Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the Caucasian Population

Abstract

Considering the immunological impairment in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), we aimed to determine the associations of IL-9 rs1859430, rs2069870, rs11741137, rs2069885, and rs2069884 and IL-10 rs1800871, rs1800872, and rs1800896 polymorphisms and their haplotypes, as well as the serum levels of IL-9 and IL-10 with AMD. 1209 participants were enrolled in our study. SNPs were genotyped using TaqMan SNP genotyping assays by real-time PCR method. IL-9 and IL-10 serum levels were evaluated using ELISA kits. Our study results have shown that haplotypes A-G-C-G-G and G-A-T-A-T of IL-9 SNPs are associated with the decreased odds of early AMD occurrence ( $p=0.035$ and $p=0.015$ , respectively). A set of rare haplotypes was associated with the decreased odds of exudative AMD occurrence ( $p=0.033$ ). Also, IL-10 serum levels were lower in exudative AMD than in controls ( $p=0.049$ ), patients with early AMD ( $p=0.017$ ), and atrophic AMD ( $p=0.008$ ). Furthermore, exudative AMD patients with IL-10 rs1800896 CT and TT genotypes had lower IL-10 serum concentrations than those with wild-type (CC) genotype ( $p=0.048$ ). In conclusion, our study suggests that IL-10 serum levels can be associated with a minor allele at IL-10 rs1800896 and exudative AMD. The haplotypes of IL-9 SNPs were also associated with the decreased odds of early and exudative AMD.