title: Polymorphism at the TNF loci in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: The purpose of this work was to analyze the possible influence of TNF loci polymorphism on the susceptibility and/or the disease profile of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Tumor necrosis factor (alpha and beta) genotypes were determined in 60 patients with RA and 102 healthy subjects by a method based on PCR-RFLP with amplification-created restriction sites. The results obtained in the present study showed that there is not a significant association of either TNF alpha promoter variation (at positions -308 and -238) or TNF beta polymorphism with susceptibility to RA. However, a significant difference in the mean age at disease onset was found between -238 TNF alpha genotypes. In addition, a difference in the presence of nodular disease was observed between -308 TNF alpha genotype. The results of this study suggests that the TNF alpha gene may play a role in the disease profile of rheumatoid arthritis.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina López Neyra, CSIC, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vinasco
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Beraún
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nieto
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fraile
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mataran
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pareja
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martín
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006801:Humans; D008233:Lymphotoxin-alpha / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D008233:Lymphotoxin-alpha; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha