title: TNF-alpha polymorphisms in multiple sclerosis: no association with -238 and -308 promoter alleles, but the microsatellite allele a11 is associated with the disease in French patients.
abstract: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a proinflammatory cytokine, is believed to play an important role in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis. The objective of this study was to determine whether sequence variation in the TNF-alpha gene is associated with MS. Bi-allelic polymorphisms in the TNF-alpha promoter region (TNF-alpha -238 and -308) and microsatellite TNF-alpha were previously reported. We investigated these polymorphisms in 74 French patients with MS, compared with 75 controls. No significant differences regarding the TNF-alpha -238 and -308 polymorphisms were observed between MS patients and controls. Allele frequency for the a11 allele is in very significant association (P<0.0001) with MS, due in part to the association of the a11 allele with the HLA-DRB1*15 allele in patients.
authors.affiliation: Center of Molecular Neurogenetics, Faculty of Medicine, Rheims, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lucotte
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bathelier
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mercier
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012016:Reference Values; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha