Association of Interleukin-10 Serum Levels and rs1800896 Polymorphism with Gram-Negative Sepsis

Abstract

Early diagnosis and risk stratification of sepsis remain major clinical challenges. Interleukin-10 (IL-10), an anti-inflammatory cytokine, plays an important role in immune regulation during sepsis, and genetic variation in the IL-10 promoter region, particularly the rs1800896 (−1082 A/G) polymorphism, may influence individual susceptibility to severe infection. This study investigated the association between serum IL-10 levels, the IL-10 rs1800896 polymorphism, and susceptibility to gram-negative sepsis.

A case–control study was conducted including 104 adult patients with culture-confirmed gram-negative sepsis and 100 healthy controls. Serum IL-10 concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at three time points among sepsis patients, and genotyping of the rs1800896 polymorphism was performed using allele-specific polymerase chain reaction. Serum IL-10 levels were significantly higher in sepsis patients than in controls (p < 0.05) and demonstrated a decreasing trend during follow-up. The rs1800896 GG genotype was significantly more frequent among sepsis patients and was independently associated with increased sepsis risk (adjusted OR = 3.72, 95% CI: 1.31–10.54; p = 0.014). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed moderate discriminatory performance for serum IL-10 (AUC = 0.761), whereas the rs1800896 polymorphism showed poor diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.341). These findings indicate that the IL-10 rs1800896 GG genotype is associated with increased susceptibility to gram-negative sepsis and that serum IL-10 may serve as a complementary biomarker when integrated with clinical assessment tools.