Given the key role of interleukin-12 (IL-12) in the control of HBV, we investigated the possible correlation between IL-12A rs568408 and IL-12B rs3212227 polymorphisms and the risk of chronic HBV infection in Tunisian population.

Two hundred patients with chronic HBV infection and two hundred healthy controls were genotyped using PCR-RFLP.

A allele, AA and AG genotypes of IL-12A rs568408 were more represented in the chronic HBV infection group compared to the control group, and they were associated with 1.65-, 2.58- and 3.13-fold risks of developing this infection, respectively.

Gene–gene interaction analysis showed that subjects carrying the IL-12A rs568408AA/AG and IL-12B rs3212227AA genotypes had a 3.16-fold increased risk of chronic HBV infection.

This study suggested that IL-12A rs568408 and gene–gene interactions of IL-12A rs568408 and IL-12B rs3212227 contributed to the outcome of chronic HBV infection, meanwhile indicating their usefulness as a predictive and diagnostic biomarker of chronic HBV infection.

鉴于白介素12（IL-12）在HBV控制中的关键作用，我们调查了突尼斯人群IL-12A rs568408和IL-12B rs3212227多态性与慢性HBV感染风险之间的可能相关性。

使用PCR-RFLP对200例慢性HBV感染患者和200例健康对照进行基因分型。

与对照组相比，IL-12A rs568408的等位基因，AA和AG基因型在慢性HBV感染组中的比例更高，并且分别与发生这种感染的风险分别高1.65倍，2.58倍和3.13倍。

基因-基因相互作用分析表明，携带IL-12A rs568408AA / AG和IL-12B rs3212227AA基因型的受试者的慢性HBV感染风险增加了3.16倍。

这项研究表明，IL-12A rs568408以及IL-12A rs568408和IL-12B rs3212227的基因-基因相互作用有助于慢性HBV感染，同时表明它们可作为慢性HBV感染的预测和诊断生物标志物。