title: Polymorphisms in the 5'-flanking region of tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Polymorphisms in the 5'-flanking promoter/enhancer region of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a gene were examined to study the genetic background of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Four variant alleles, -1,031C/ -863A, -1,031C/-238A, -857T and -308A, were identified and examined in 387 RA patients and 575 healthy Japanese controls. The frequency of the -857T allele in RA patients was significantly higher than that in the controls. However, the HLA-DRB1 analysis in the same subjects showed that the DRB1*0405 allele, which is in linkage disequilibrium with the -857T, was more strongly associated with the disease susceptibility than the -857T allele. These results suggest that the susceptible gene to RA is more closely linked to the HLA-DRB1 locus than to the TNF-alpha locus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Seki
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamizono
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Niiya
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Date
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ochi
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions / Q000276:immunology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000276:immunology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha