title: Association between the aggrecan gene and rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Genetic and environmental factors seem to be involved in the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We analyzed whether a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism in the aggrecan gene was associated to RA.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population comprised 170 European-derived Brazilian patients with diagnosis of RA. The control group comprised 148 European-derived Brazilian healthy blood donors. The aggrecan VNTR polymorphism was genotyped by DNA amplification by polymerase chain reaction, followed by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a statistically significant higher frequency of alleles of shorter length in the patient group compared to controls (p = 0.001), suggesting that individuals carrying short alleles are more likely to develop RA. There was no association between short alleles and clinical characteristics of RA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results provide evidence of an association between the aggrecan gene VNTR polymorphism and RA.
authors.affiliation: Curso de Biologia and Programa de Pós-Graduação em Diagnóstico Genético e Molecular, Universidade Luterana do Brasil, Canoas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thais B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Elisa F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Mentz
authors.forename: Claiton V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Brenol
authors.forename: Ricardo M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Xavier
authors.forename: João C T
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Brenol
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Chies
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Simon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D053674:Aggrecans / Q000235:genetics*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
chemical_list: D053674:Aggrecans