Association of IL-17A/F polymorphisms with the risk of gastritis and gastric cancer in the Korean population

We investigated the effects of IL-17A rs2275913 and IL-17F rs763780 polymorphisms on IL-17 expression and the association of these polymorphisms with the risk of gastritis and gastric cancer. IL-17A expression was closely associated with the degree of gastritis in 55 non-neoplastic gastric mucosae and was markedly decreased in subjects carrying A allele. In addition, IL-17F expression was increased in the T allele carriers, but was not associated with gastritis. In 300 gastric cancer patients, the frequency of the rs2275913 A/A genotype was significantly higher in intestinal-type gastric cancer, when compared to that of diffuse-type gastric cancer (P>0.05). There was a significant difference in genotype distribution and allele frequencies of IL-17F rs763780 when comparing gastric cancer patients and 247 healthy controls. These results suggest that the polymorphisms of IL-17F rs763780 and IL-17A rs2275913 are closely associated with susceptibility to the development of gastritis and gastric cancer in the Korean population.