title: Differential association of tumour necrosis factor-alpha single nucleotide polymorphism (-308) with tuberculosis and bronchial asthma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha is a pleiotropic, pro-inflammatory cytokine of 17 kDa, whose gene is localized on the short arm of chromosome 6. It has a G-308A polymorphism in the promoter region, which is known to be associated with its differential production; the A allele being the high producer. The circulating level of TNF-alpha is under genetic control and implicated in the pathophysiology of asthma and tuberculosis. Since raised levels of TNF-alpha have been found in asthma and tuberculosis, we looked for the association of TNF-alpha G-308A polymorphism in patients with these diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 300 blood samples from patients (155 with asthma, 145 tuberculosis) and 211 normal healthy controls were collected. The G-308A polymorphism was studied using amplification refractory mutation system analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The distribution of G/A alleles in the two patient groups when compared with normal controls revealed a statistically significant association with asthma (p = 0.016) but not with tuberculosis (p = 0.178).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data support the common variant common disease hypothesis, which emphasizes that common genetic variations may participate as critical players in inciting common diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar 143005, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khosla
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Sarin
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Sehajpal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D001249:Asthma / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002896:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6 / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha