Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene polymorphisms in Behçet's disease.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze potential associations of Glu-Asp298 polymorphism in exon 7 and 4 a/b polymorphism in intron 4 of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene with susceptibility for Behçet's disease (BD).


METHODS
Seventy-three consecutive Italian patients who satisfied the International Study Group criteria for BD and 135 healthy blood donor controls from the same geographic area were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction and allele-specific oligonucleotide techniques for eNOS polymorphisms in exon 7 and in intron 4.


RESULTS
The distribution of the Glu-Asp298 genotype differed significantly between BD patients and controls (p(corr) = 0.00009). Allele Asp298 was significantly more frequent in BD patients than in controls (p(corr) = 0.0006, OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.5-3.3). The distribution of 4 a/b genotype was similar in patients and controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show that Glu-Asp298 polymorphism of eNOS gene is associated with BD susceptibility.
Salvarani
Carlo
C
Laboratorio di Biologia Molecolare, Ospedale di Reggio Emilia, Italy. salvarani.carlo@asmn.re.it
Boiardi
Luigi
L
Casali
Bruno
B
Olivieri
Ignazio
I
Ciancio
Giovanni
G
Cantini
Fabrizio
F
Salvi
Fabrizio
F
Malatesta
Renato
R
Govoni
Marcello
M
Trotta
Francesco
F
Filippini
Davide
D
Paolazzi
Giuseppe
G
Nicoli
Davide
D
Farnetti
Enrico
E
Macchioni
Pierluigi
P
D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000201:enzymology; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000235:genetics*; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
D009569:Nitric Oxide; C496314:NOS3 protein, human; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III