Association ofTNFandFcγRΙΙΙAgene polymorphisms with differential response to infliximab in a Greek cohort of Crohn's disease patients.
OBJECTIVE
Infliximab (IFX) has revolutionized the treatment of patients with Crohn's disease (CD). However, a significant proportion of patients may fail to respond primarily or lose response over time. The genetic background of a particular individual may partially explain differences in responsiveness to anti-TNFα therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether polymorphisms in the promoter region of theTNFandFcγRΙΙΙAgene are associated with response to IFX in patients with CD.


METHODS
We investigated the following single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of theTNFgene (-238 G/A, -308 G/A, and -857 C/T) and the -158 V/F polymorphism in theFcγRΙΙΙAgene in a cohort of 79 adults and 27 children, who were all Greek patients with CD. These polymorphisms were determined using PCR-RFLP or allele-specific PCR.


RESULTS
Regarding the 106 patients included in the study, 68 (64.15%) were classified as complete and 25 (23.58%) as partial responders to IFX, while 13 (12.26%) patients were primary non responders. There were no significant differences in the frequencies of the variousTNFandFcγRΙΙΙAgenotypes among complete, partial responders or primary non responders.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest thatTNFandFcγRΙΙΙAgenotypes did not affect the response to IFX in this cohort of Greek patients with CD.
1 Department of Gastroenterology, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens, Greece (Konstantinos Papamichael, Christos Karakoidas, Gerasimos J. Mantzaris).
Konstantinos
K
Papamichael
Laboratory of Biology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece (Maria Gazouli).
Maria
M
Gazouli
1 Department of Gastroenterology, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens, Greece (Konstantinos Papamichael, Christos Karakoidas, Gerasimos J. Mantzaris).
Christos
C
Karakoidas
1 Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Athens (Ioanna Panayotou, Eleftheria Roma-Giannikou).
Ioanna
I
Panayotou
1 Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Athens (Ioanna Panayotou, Eleftheria Roma-Giannikou).
Eleftheria
E
Roma-Giannikou
1 Department of Gastroenterology, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens, Greece (Konstantinos Papamichael, Christos Karakoidas, Gerasimos J. Mantzaris).
Gerassimos J
GJ
Mantzaris
Crohn’s disease; FcγRΙΙΙA polymorphisms; infliximab; promoter TNF gene