title: Heritable major histocompatibility complex class II-associated differences in production of tumor necrosis factor alpha: relevance to genetic predisposition to systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: We report on the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and TNF-beta by mitogen-activated peripheral blood lymphocytes or enriched monocyte subpopulations from human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-typed healthy subjects. The results indicate that HLA-DR2- and DQw1-positive donors frequently exhibit low production of TNF-alpha, whereas DR3- and DR4-positive subjects show high levels of TNF-alpha production. No correlation between TNF-alpha levels and HLA-A, -B, and -C genotype was found. The relevance of this quantitative polymorphism to the genetic predisposition to lupus nephritis in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients was investigated. DR2, DQw1-positive SLE patients show low levels of TNF-alpha inducibility; this genotype is also associated with an increased incidence of lupus nephritis. DR3-positive SLE patients, on the other hand, are not predisposed to nephritis, and these patients have high TNF-alpha production. DR4 haplotype is associated with high TNF-alpha inducibility and is negatively correlated with lupus nephritis. These data may help explain the strong association between HLA-DR2, DQw1 in SLE patients and their susceptibility to nephritis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5402.
authors.forename: C O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fronek
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: H O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: McDevitt
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D005260:Female; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008233:Lymphotoxin-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008297:Male; D010375:Pedigree; D012016:Reference Values; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D008233:Lymphotoxin-alpha; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha