title: Tumor necrosis factor alpha production by oral leukocytes: influence of tumor necrosis factor genotype.
abstract: Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a proinflammatory cytokine that is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. TNF-alpha production is regulated by many factors, including certain alleles of TNF gene polymorphisms. In the present study, TNF genotypes of 3 bi-allelic polymorphisms were determined in 32 Caucasian patients with adult periodontitis and 32 orally-healthy matched controls, and correlated with TNF-alpha production by oral polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN). No differences in distribution of TNF alleles of the -238, -308, or +252 gene polymorphisms were observed between patients and controls or between patients with different disease severity. However, the level of TNF-alpha production by oral PMN correlated with the TNF-alpha 308 genotype in patients with adult periodontitis, with increased production found in patients with the T1,2 genotype (t-test; P=0.037). When cytokine production was examined in patients according to disease severity, an association between the T1,2 genotype and increased production was observed only in patients with advanced disease (t-test; P=0.05). These findings suggest that further studies are warranted to determine if the TNF genotype is a risk factor for severity of disease in adult periodontitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425-2230, USA.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Galbraith
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Steed
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Pandey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000378:metabolism*; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha