title: Association of interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha polymorphisms with susceptibility to vitiligo in Iranian patients.
abstract: Vitiligo is a common skin disorder that is caused by selective destruction of melanocytes, resulting in disfiguring loss of pigment. There are convincing evidences that cytokines and T cell mediated immunity may have a role in its pathogenesis. Given the fact that cytokine production is under genetic control, in this study, we have investigated IFN-gamma +874 T/A and TNF-alpha -308 G/A gene polymorphisms in a total of 176 vitiligo patients and 545 controls. IFN-gamma +874 T/A and TNF-alpha -308 G/A gene polymorphisms were genotyped via Allele Specific Oligonucleotide PCR (ASO-PCR) method. The results showed that the TNF-alpha -308 G/A polymorphism was more common in vitiligo patients than controls (P = 0.0004). This difference was only significant between female patients and controls (P < 0.0001), while there was no significant difference between male patients and male controls (P = 0.90). The distribution of IFN-gamma genotypes in vitiligo patients did not differ significantly from that in control subjects (P = 0.56). Since the presence of A nucleotide at position -308 of TNF-alpha gene is associated with increased cytokine production, therefore, the higher frequency of TNF-alpha -308 A allele in vitiligo patients compared to controls may be considered as a genetic susceptibility factor towards the development of vitiligo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali-Mohammad
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Namian
authors.forename: Shima
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahbaz
authors.forename: Rahmatolah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salmanpoor
authors.forename: Mohammad-Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Namazi
authors.forename: Farideh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dehghani
authors.forename: Eskandar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kamali-Sarvestani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma