Comparison of cytokine gene polymorphisms among Greek patients with invasive meningococcal disease or viral meningitis Titmarsh, Callum J. and Moscovis, Sophia M. and Hall, Sharron and Tzanakaki, Georgina and Kesanopoulos, Konstantinos and Xirogianni, Athanasia and Scott, Rodney J. and Blackwell, C. Caroline,, 62, 694-700 (2013), doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.058073-0, publicationName = Microbiology Society, issn = 0022-2615, abstract= High levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines are implicated in the severity of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) and viral meningitis (VM). This study compared single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine genes among patients with VM or IMD. Patient DNA samples were prepared by the National Meningitis Reference Laboratory in Athens: n = 98 for IMD and n = 53 for VM. The results for both patient groups were compared with data published for healthy Greek control data. Real-time PCR was used to assess the interleukin (IL) gene SNPs IL6 G−174C, IL1B C−511T, IL1RN T+2018C, IL10 G−1082A and IL8 A−251T and the tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α) SNP TNFA G−308A. Differences were compared by Fisher’s exact test. The genotype for high IL-6 responses was predominant among IMD (51 %, P = 0.0008) and VM (74.5 %, P<0.0001) patients compared with the controls (31 %). The genotype associated with high TNF-α responses was 5 % among controls and lower for IMD (1.1 %, P = 0.0014) and VM (0 %, P = 0.052). There was no difference for IL-8 SNPs between controls and IMD (P = 0.162), but the difference was significant for VM (P = 0.0025). IL-6 (P = 0.024) and IL-8 (P = 0.00004) SNPs differed between IMD and VM. Reports on associations between IL-8 SNPs and cytokine responses differ. Because of its role in neutrophil attraction, differences in frequencies of the IL-8 SNP for IMD and VM require further investigation., language=, type=