title: Impact of tumour necrosis factor-α polymorphisms on irritant contact dermatitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Genetic variations in genes coding for cytokines involved in skin inflammation may alter their expression, thus changing the susceptibility to irritant contact dermatitis (ICD).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of polymorphisms in the cytokine genes TNFA-238 and TNFA-308 in patients with occupational ICD, and to compare it with that in controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a case-control study, 478 patients with occupational ICD of the hands were genotyped for TNFA-238 and TNFA-308 polymorphisms. The results were compared with those for 393 apprentices from the same high-risk occupations (controls).
  
  
  RESULTS
  For a carrier of a variant TNFA-238A allele, the odds ratio (OR) of acquiring ICD was 0.57 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.34-0.97], suggesting a protective effect of the A allele. The genotype distributions were 94.4% wild type (G/G), 5.6% heterozygous (G/A) and 0% homozygous for variant allele (A/A) in patients, and 90.9%, 8.5%, and 0.6%, respectively in controls. In contrast, carriers of the variant TNFA-308A allele had an increased risk of ICD [OR 1.33; 95% CI 1.05-1.74; G/G 66.4%, G/A 31.2%, and A/A 2.4% (patients) versus 73.5%, 24.6%, 1.9% in controls].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Individuals with a TNFA-238 polymorphism are less prone and those with a TNFA-308 polymorphism are more prone to develop ICD of the hands, suggesting a protective versus a detrimental effect of the A allele respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine and Health Theory, University of Osnabrück, 49090 Osnabrück, Germany. llandeck@uos.de
authors.forename: Lilla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Landeck
authors.forename: Maaike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Visser
authors.forename: Sanja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kezic
authors.forename: Swen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: John
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D017453:Dermatitis, Irritant / Q000235:genetics*; D009783:Dermatitis, Occupational / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006229:Hand Dermatoses / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha