title: Decreased frequency of the tumor necrosis factor alpha -308 allele in Serbian patients with multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha has been considered the prototypic cytopathogenic cytokine in multiple sclerosis (MS), but recently this cytokine has been shown to possess significant anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects in demyelinating diseases. It has been reported that the TNFalpha -308 polymorphism influences levels of TNFalpha production, and that the rare allele, TNF2, is associated with high TNFalpha production. We investigated the TNFalpha -308 polymorphism in 143 unrelated Serbian patients with MS and 123 ethnically matched, healthy individuals using the allele-specific restriction fragment length polymorphism polymerase chain reaction technique. The frequency of the TNF2 allele was significantly decreased in MS patients (14%) in comparison with controls (24%; p = 0.044). The TNF2 allele had no influence on disease behavior, since it was not associated with the course and severity of MS in this group of patients. The result suggests that in the Serbian population polymorphism at position -308 of TNFalpha or at an adjacent locus might have a role in MS susceptibility.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, UK. chcondru@Eunet.yu
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Drulović
authors.forename: Dusan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Popadić
authors.forename: Sarlota
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mesaros
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dujmović
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cvetković
authors.forename: Djordje
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miljković
authors.forename: Nebojsa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stojsavljević
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pravica
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pekmezović
authors.forename: Gradimir
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bogdanović
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jarebinski
authors.forename: Marija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mostarica Stojković
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020528:Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Progressive / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012016:Reference Values; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015022:Yugoslavia
chemical_list: C439524:TNF protein, human; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha