Background:Upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), the most common infectious disease among trained endurance athletes, declines the athletic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of IL8- gene polymorphisms on upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) incidence.
Materials and Methods: This is a historic cohort study and one hundred healthy elite male athletes were classified as either healthy or prone to frequent URTI. Taking blood samples, DNA isolation, multiplex PCR, and PCR-RFLP were carried out. Using the QIAmp DNA Blood Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany), genomic DNA was extracted. For comparison of the distribution of genotypes between two groups and for estimating odds ratios (OR) for URTI susceptibility in relation to the IL251-8- polymorphism, Pearson’s chi-square and Logistic regression method were used respectively.
Results: The IL251-8- genotype distribution significantly differed between athletes with URTI and healthy athletes (P=0.01). The IL8- low genotypes (AA) were observed at a greater frequency in the illness-prone group compared with the healthy group (%46.81 vs. %7.55).
Conclusion: Findings from this study have identified a potential role of genetic variation in influencing the risk for URTI in athletic populations and SNPs in the IL251-8- genes were associated with an altered risk profile. These measures may have a predictive value in the identification of individuals who are more likely to experience recurrent infections when exposed to high physical stress in the areas of athletic endeavor.