Circulating interleukin-10 levels and human papilloma virus and Epstein–Barr virus-associated cancers: evidence from a Mendelian randomization meta-analysis based on 11,170 subjects

Kai Qu,1,* Qing Pang,1,* Ting Lin,1 Li Zhang,2 Mingliang Gu,3 Wenquan Niu,4 Chang Liu,1,* Ming Zhang5 1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Ultrasound Diagnostics, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 4State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Otolaryngology, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Recent studies have showed interleukin 10 (IL-10) is a critical cytokine that determines antiviral immune response and is related to virus-associated cancers. However, whether genetically elevated circulating IL-10 levels are associated with the risk of human papilloma virus and Epstein–Barr virus-associated cancers (HEACs) is still unclear. Mendelian randomization method was implemented to meta-analyze available observational studies by employing IL-10 three variants (-592C>A, -819C>T, and -1082A>G) as instruments. Atotal of 24 articles encompassing 11,170 subjects were ultimately eligible for the meta-analysis. Overall, there was a significant association between IL-10 promoter variant -1082A>G and HEACs under allelic and dominant models (both PG was significant for nasopharyngeal cancer under allelic, homozygous genotypic and dominant models (all P