We also found that M-CSF levels were positively correlated with IL-6 and IL-18 levels (both p < 0.05), which are the major pathogentic cytokines that contribute to HD-related CVD events.
The aim of this study was to evaluate association between G(-137)C polymorphism (rs187238) in the IL-18 gene and risk of diabetes and CVD in type 2 diabetes patients.
Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a proinflammatory cytokine involved in the processes of innate and acquired immunities and associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
As a further step for elucidating the contribution of the IL-18 pathway to the etiology of CVD, we here investigated the association between the genetic variability of two IL-18 receptor genes, IL18R1 and IL18RAP, with the risk of developing CVD.
The relationship between two IL-18 gene polymorphisms, namely C-607A and G-137C, and cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetic nephropathy was examined.
In conclusion, using the concerted effort of several European prospective CVD cohorts, we are able to show that one IL-18 tag SNP interacts with smoking to modulate the risk of developing CVD.
We measured IL-18, by ELISA, in the population-based study group [Carotid Ultrasound Disease Assessment Study (CUDAS)] and a predominantly male cohort with premature cardiovascular disease [Carotid Ultrasound in Patients with Ischaemic Heart Disease (CUPID)].
The evolutive advantages of increased inflammatory responses, hypersecretion of proinflammatory cytokines [tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, and IL-18], or decreased anti-inflammatory molecules (adiponectin, certain TNF-alpha isoforms, soluble CD14, etc.), would lead in westernized countries to chronic inflammation conditions, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, resulting in cardiovascular disease.
This finding supports the concepts that adipocytes behave as primitive immune cells and that IL-18 may mediate some of the detrimental complications of obesity such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.