title: Lack of association between the CC genotype of the rs7903146 polymorphism in the TCF7L2 gene and rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  TCF7L2 is a transcription factor involved in Wnt/beta-catenin signaling and which has a variant known to be consistently associated with type 2 diabetes risk and some studies have also indicated its association with risk of certain types of cancer.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Since this pathway may be involved in the pathophysiology of other chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, we aimed to investigate the effect of TCF7L2 polymorphism rs7903146 on rheumatoid arthritis severity in a Brazilian population.
  
  
  METHODS
  This polymorphism was genotyped in 208 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and in 104 healthy controls. We also analyzed the association of this polymorphism to smoking history, functional status classification and radiological indicators of disease severity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The distribution of CC, CT and TT genotypes of SNP rs7903146 of the TCF7L2 gene was not different between patients and controls, and no association between the genotype and indicators of disease severity or smoking history was found. When data were evaluated using the dominant model, in which carriers of the CT and TT genotypes were grouped, an increase in the T allele was observed in patients positive for rheumatoid factor and erosions, although this was not significant. The frequency of T allele was also increased in patients with functional class II compared to class I (P = 0.032).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is possible that the small number of patients included in this study may have restrained additional findings. Further studies are therefore needed to investigate the role of TCF7L2 gene variants in the risk of rheumatoid arthritis and its severity.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Reumatologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil. liciamhmota@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Licia Maria Henrique da
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Mota
authors.forename: Francieli de Souza
authors.initials: Fde S
authors.lastname: Rabelo
authors.forename: Francisco Aires Corrêa
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Rodrigo Aires Corrêa
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Jozélio Freire de
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Gustavo Barcelos
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Barra
authors.forename: Angélica Amorim
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Amato
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D058118:Transcription Factor 7-Like 2 Protein / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C544894:TCF7L2 protein, human; D058118:Transcription Factor 7-Like 2 Protein