title: Analysis of two T-cell receptor BV gene segment polymorphisms in caucasoid Brazilian patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Considering the role of T-lymphocytes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and a possible involvement of the TCR in the pathology of this disease we analyzed allelic and genotypic frequencies of variants of two TCRBV gene segments (TCRBV3S1 and TCRBV18) in RA. A total of 95 caucasoid South Brazilian RA patients were genotyped for both TCRBV gene segment variants by restriction fragment length polymorphism preceded by PCR (PCR-RFLP) and the obtained frequencies were compared to those from healthy individuals. Allelic frequencies for the TCRBV3S1 gene segment were, respectively, for RA patients and controls, 0.447 and 0.545 (allele 1) and 0.553 and 0.455 (allele 2). Allelic frequencies for the TCRBV18 gene segment were, respectively, for RA patients and controls, 0.824 and 0.806 (allele 1) and 0.176 and 0.194 (allele 2). Neither allelic frequencies nor genotypic frequencies differ among RA and healthy individuals, suggesting that there is not a direct association among the TCRBV allelic variants studied and the development of RA and thus excluding the possibility of use of these gene segment polymorphisms as RA susceptibility markers.
authors.affiliation: UFRGS-Departamento de Genética, Av Bento Gonçalves 9500, Caixa Postal 15053, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dresch
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xavier
authors.forename: João C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Brenol
authors.forename: Nance B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Nardi
authors.forename: José A B
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Chies
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics*; D001938:Brazil; D019672:Genes, T-Cell Receptor / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*