title: Dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in intron II of human Toll-like receptor 2 gene and susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Human Toll-like receptors (TLRs) participate in innate immune response and signal the activation of adaptive immunity. The presence of a functional intronic polymorphism consisting of guanine-thymine repeats in TLR2 gene was recently reported. Here, we investigated a dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in intron II of TLR2 in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The numbers of guanine-thymine [(GT)(n)] repeats in intron II of the TLR 2 gene were counted in 183 patients with RA and in 148 healthy controls, using the gene scanning technique. We classified alleles into two subclasses for further analysis, 12-16 GT repeats (S allele) and 17-28 repeats (L allele). By subgroup analysis, we also examined whether the S allele is associated with the presence of shared epitope (SE), rheumatoid factor (RF), joint erosion and extra-articular complications. S-allele frequency was significantly increased in patients with RA than in healthy controls [30.3% vs. 23.0%, P = 0.03, or 1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-2.07], and genotypes containing S alleles were more frequent in patients with RA than in healthy controls (54.4% vs. 46.5%. P = 0.04, or 1.57, 95% CI 1.01-2.42). A skewed S-allele distribution was not found to be related to the presence of SE. Subgroup analysis showed no genotypic or allele frequency differences between patients with/without RF, joint erosion, or extra-articular complications. Genotype containing shorter GT repeats in intron II of the TLR2 gene may confer susceptibility to RA in Koreans.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: E Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J-J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Yim
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y W
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D044466:Asian People; D018900:Dinucleotide Repeats / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor / Q000276:immunology; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; C495342:TLR2 protein, human; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor