title: Tumor necrosis factor gene polymorphisms in Tunisian patients with Behcet's disease.
abstract: Behcet's disease (BD) is an inflammatory disorder that is mainly characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers, skin lesions, and uveitis. Recent reports focused on the genetic factors of susceptibility to this disease and especially the TNF in view of the major role played by this proinflammatory cytokine in the lesional process of Behcet's disease. In this report, we investigated the possible association between Behcet's disease and the TNF-alpha gene promoter polymorphisms -1031T/C, -308A/G, and the TNF-beta polymorphism +252A/G in Tunisian population. We compared the distribution of these polymorphisms between 89 BD patients and 157 healthy controls using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length-polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. The frequency of the TNF-alpha -1031C allele was significantly higher in Behcet's patients than in healthy controls (p = 0.015; chi(2) = 5.84; OR = 1.65; 95% CI = 1.08-2.54), whereas the frequencies of the TNF-alpha -308G and the TNF-beta +252G alleles were similar in the two compared groups. These results suggest that the variability of the TNF-alpha -1031T/C polymorphism can be associated with the susceptibility to Behcet's disease in our study group. Therefore, the TNF molecule may have an important genetically and/or functionally implication in the pathogenesis of BD in the Tunisian population.
authors.affiliation: Homeostasis and Cell Dysfunction Unit Research 99/UR/08-40, Medicine University, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Mariam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamoun
authors.forename: Hanene
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chelbi
authors.forename: Mohamed Habib
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Houman
authors.forename: Jihene
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lacheb
authors.forename: Kamel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamzaoui
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics*; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology; D014605:Uveitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha