Lack of effect of tumor necrosis factor-alpha -308 G/A polymorphism on severity of liver fibrosis in Tunisian hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients.
OBJECTIVE
Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) plays a key role in the immune response. An elevated plasma level of TNF-alpha was repeatedly observed in patients with active liver injury or cirrhosis regardless of the aetiology. The G/A transition at position -308 in the promoter region have been shown to influence TNF-alpha expression. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of TNF-alpha -308 G/A functional polymorphism on fibrosis severity in Tunisian Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)-infected patients.


METHODS
TNF-alpha -308 G/A polymorphism was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification followed by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) method in 53 chronic hepatitis C patients. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) frequencies were compared with regard to liver fibrosis severity as assessed by the METAVIR scoring system (F1-F2; n=22 versus F3-F4; n=31).


RESULTS
The genotype distribution of the TNF-alpha -308 G/A polymorphism among the HCV-infected patients was as follows : GG : 67.9%, GA : 32.1%, AA : 0%. With regard to fibrosis score, no significant differences in TNF-alpha genotype distribution were observed between F1-F2 and F3-F4 patients (p=0.15).


CONCLUSIONS
No significant association between TNF-alpha -308 polymorphism and and the severity of liver fibrosis was found in our Tunisian cohort.
Molecular Immuno-Oncology Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia. nadia.bouzgarrou@lycos.com
N
N
Bouzgarrou
E
E
Hassen
S
S
Gabbouj
E
E
Schvoerer
N
N
Ben Mami
H
H
Triki
L
L
Chouchane
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology
D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha