Antithetical effect of tumor necrosis factor-alphagene polymorphism on coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP).
BACKGROUND
Inter-individual variation in the severity of pneumoconiosis has been described, even with the same environmental exposure. We hypothesized that TNF-alpha promoter polymorphisms associate with lung responses to environmental exposure in coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP) patients.


METHODS
We examined polymorphisms at -238, -308, and -376 in 124 patients with CWP who had similar dust exposure history and in 122 non-exposed controls. CWP patients were divided into two groups: (1) nodular CWP (n = 84); (2) progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) (n = 44).


RESULTS
The -308 A allele frequency was higher in patients with CWP compared to controls (6.35% and 2.05%, P < 0.01). It was also higher in patients with nodular CWP compared to PMF (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with the -308 A allele were 3.8 times (P = 0.036) and those with smoking habit were 2.3 times (P < 0.002) more likely to have nodular CWP than PMF.


CONCLUSIONS
TNF-alpha-308 A allele might interact with smoking to enhance susceptibility to nodular CWP.
Wang
Xin-Tao
XT
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan.
Ohtsuka
Yoshinori
Y
Kimura
Kiyonobu
K
Muroi
Miho
M
Ishida
Takashi
T
Saito
Junpei
J
Munakata
Mitsuru
M
D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003031:Coal; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008906:Mining; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D011009:Pneumoconiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics*
D003031:Coal; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha