Open Access

ARTICLE

Proinflammatory cytokine gene polymorphisms in Behcet’s disease

Aliakbar Amirzargar^1,2, Farhad Shahram^3,4, Enayat Nikoopour¹, Nima Rezaei^1,2, Keyvan Saeedfar³, Naghmeh Ziaei³, Fereydoun Davatchi^3,4

1 Molecular Immunology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 Rheumatology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
4 Department of Rheumatology, Shariaty Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

* Corresponding Author: F. Shahram,

European Cytokine Network 2010, 21(4), 292-296. https://doi.org/10.1684/ecn.2009.0209

Accepted 20 August 2010;

Abstract

Behçet’s disease (BD) is a chronic, systemic disease, characterized by oral and genital lesions, andocular inflammation. There is evidence indicating altered levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin(IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in patients with BD. This study involved 150 patients with BD and140 healthy controls, and investigated the role of proinflammatory cytokine gene polymorphisms in the disease. Thefrequency of the TNF-α (-238) G/G genotype was significantly higher in the patient group, compared to the controls(p < 0.001), whilst the G/A genotype was significantly lower in the patients with BD (p < 0.001). Patients with BDshowed a significant increase in the TNF-α (- 308, - 238) GG haplotype (p < 0.001), whilst there was a significantdecrease in the GA haplotype (p < 0.001). The heterozygous, IL-6 (- 174) C/G genotype (p = 0.005), and the IL-6(- 174, nt565) haplotype CG (p < 0.001), were significantly decreased in the patient group. The increased productionof proinflammatory cytokines in BD could be a consequence of specific, cytokine gene polymorphisms. Particulargenotypes and haplotypes in TNF-α were over-represented in BD, which may, in turn, predispose individuals tothis disease.

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Keywords

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