The interleukin-18 -607A/C polymorphism is not associated with risk for oral cancer.

Background: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association of angiogenesis-inhibitor interleukin-18 (IL-18) with risk for oral cancer, with regard to the recently found contribution of cytokines to carcinogenesis.

Patients And Methods: The -607A/C polymorphism in the promoter region of the IL-18 gene, which affects transcription, was studied in 149 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 89 matched healthy controls.

Results: The detected carrier and allele frequencies of the low transcription A allele were not significantly different in patients in comparison with controls (63.