Celiac disease is a complex chronic intestinal disorder driven by an immune response against the
gliadin fraction of gluten: many factors are involved in the pathogenesis of the disease, and
among these Interleukin-10 could play an important role. In the present study, the -1082A>G,
-819T>C and -592A>C IL10 functional polymorphisms were analyzed in 565 celiac patients and
576 healthy controls from north-eastern Italy, stratified for HLA class II celiac disease risk haplotypes.
No significant differences were observed for the three IL10 polymorphisms distribution
between celiac patients and controls with the exception of a slightly increased risk for the
-1082A allele in HLA-DQ8 male individuals. Although our findings suggest that the IL10 genetic
variants analyzed do not have a major role in the susceptibility to the development of celiac
disease in north-eastern Italian patients, we think that the possible involvement of IL10 gene
in CD should deserve further investigation and that large-scale studies are recommended to
confirm our findings.
