Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on July 14, 2009
Human Reproduction 2009 24(10):2596-2599; doi:10.1093/humrep/dep242
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Interleukin-2 receptor β gene C627T polymorphism in Korean women with endometriosis: a case–control study
1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Institute of Reproductive Medicine and Population, Medical Research Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea 3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
4 Correspondence address. Tel: +82-2-2072-2385; Fax: +82-2-762-3599; E-mail: ymchoi{at}snu.ac.kr
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential association of the C627T polymorphism in the interleukin-2 receptor β gene (IL-2R β) with the risk of endometriosis in Korean women.
METHODS: Two hundred and thirty-seven women with surgically or histologically diagnosed endometriosis of stages III and IV were recruited for this study, and 164 patients with no evidence of endometriosis diagnosed by laparoscopy or laparotomy served as controls. The C627T polymorphism of the IL-2R β was assessed using the TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. 
2 analysis was used to examine any differences in genotype distributions and allele frequencies of the IL-2R β C627T polymorphism between the endometriosis cases and the controls.
RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of the IL-2R β C627T polymorphism between the endometriosis patients and the controls (28.7% C/C, 48.1% C/T and 23.2% T/T versus 29.3, 44.5 and 26.2%, respectively, P = 0.72) or in the T allele frequencies (47.3 versus 48.5%, respectively, P = 0.73). Even when the endometriosis cases were subdivided into stages III and IV, no statistically significant differences in genotype distributions or allele frequencies were observed among the three groups.
CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to the recent data reported in a Taiwanese population, our results suggest that the C627T polymorphism of the IL-2R β gene may not be associated with the risk of endometriosis in the Korean population.
Key words: endometriosis/interleukin-2 receptor β gene/C627T polymorphism/Hardy—Weinburg equilibrium/Korean women
Submitted on January 12, 2009; resubmitted on June 10, 2009; accepted on June 11, 2009.