title: Association of TNF-α polymorphism rs1800629 with multisomatoform disorder in a group of German patients and healthy controls: an explorative study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The etiology of multisomatoform disorder (MSD) is still largely unknown, but genetic factors seem to have an influence on pathogenesis. Pain is a major symptom of MSD and polymorphisms of different proinflammatory cytokines have been found associated with pain in former studies. Therefore, we presumed that cytokine polymorphisms could also be associated with MSD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Groups of 148 MSD patients with pain as the leading clinical symptom and 149 age and gender matched healthy controls participated in this study. Nine cytokine polymorphisms were genotyped and statistically analyzed for associations with MSD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Allelic and genotypic associations were found for rs16944 (interleukin 1β), rs1800629 (tumor necrosis factor) and rs909253 (lymphotoxin α). After correcting for multiple testing, the association of rs1800629 with MSD remained significant. The rare A-allele was correlated with MSD (p=0.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Since the common G-allele of rs1800629 (TNFα) occurs much more often in the control group than in the MSD group it is assumed to be protective. Being carrier of the A-allele seems to be a risk factor for MSD.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.forename: Karl P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Kapitza
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pahl
authors.forename: Anh-Thu
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.forename: Lilly
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Volkmann
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Buers
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karst
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stuhrmann
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernateck
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005858:Germany; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha