title: Polymorphisms of interferon-gamma, interleukin-10, and interleukin-12 genes in myasthenia gravis.
abstract: To assess the involvement of polymorphisms in genetic susceptibility to myasthenia gravis (MG), this study analyzed four polymorphisms of interferon (IFN)-gamma, interleukin (IL)-10, and IL-12 genes in 115 patients and 204 healthy controls (HC). IFNG +874T carriers were less frequent in MG, in patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) (63%) and anti-titin (56.2%) antibodies compared with HC (p = 0.01 for all, OR: 0.5, 0.5, and 0.4, respectively). The presence of thymoma was also associated with lower frequency of IFNG +874T allele (p = 0.018, OR = 0.34). At IL10, -2763A allele was found to be slightly more frequent in MG and in patients with anti-AChR than in HC group (p = 0.05, OR = 1.7, p = 0.036, OR = 1.83). However, these associations did not remain significant after correction for multiple comparisons. IL12B allele distribution was not different among groups. These data suggest that some cytokine gene polymorphisms may contribute to susceptibility to or antibody production in MG. These findings need to be replicated in further studies.
authors.affiliation: I.U. DETAE Department of Immunology, Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Vuslat
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: Yildiz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tütüncü
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bariş Hasbal
authors.forename: Yesim
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Parman
authors.forename: Piraye
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Serdaroglu
authors.forename: Feza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Deymeer
authors.forename: Güher
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Saruhan-Direskeneli
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016753:Interleukin-10; D018664:Interleukin-12; D007371:Interferon-gamma