Recent studies have reported that the levels of serum interleukin-33 (IL- 33) and its receptor, suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2), are potential biomarkers for susceptibility of cardiovascular diseases. However, the genetic association of the IL-33/ST2 axis with cardiovascular diseases remains controversial.

We aimed to investigate the association between common variants in the IL-33/ST2 axis and ischemic stroke in the Han Chinese population.

We consecutively enrolled 1166 patients with ischemic stroke and 1079 age- and gender- matched controls. Eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within IL-33/ST2 axis were genotyped using the improved Multiple Ligase Detection Reaction platform. We analyzed the association between the tested SNPs and ischemic stroke at both the genotype and haplotype levels.

Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that rs10435816 (additive model: odds ratio [OR]=0.72, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54-0.95; recessive model: OR=0.72, 95%CI, 0.56- 0.94) was associated with a decreased risk of ischemic stroke after adjustment of confounding factors. Subgroup analysis indicated that rs10435816 (additive model: OR=0.61, 95%CI, 0.41-0.89; recessive model: OR=0.56, 95%CI, 0.40-0.80), rs7025417 (additive model: OR=0.57, 95%CI, 0.39-0.83), rs11792633 (additive model: OR=0.66, 95%CI, 0.46-0.95; recessive model: OR=0.67, 95%CI, 0.49-0.93), and rs7044343 (additive model: OR=0.69, 95%CI, 0.48-0.97; recessive model: OR=0.67, 95%CI, 0.49-0.91) were associated with a decreased risk of large-artery atherosclerosis stroke after adjustment of confounding factors.

Our findings suggested an association between common variants in the IL-33/ST2 axis and a decreased risk of ischemic stroke in the Han Chinese population.