Pediatric Rheumatology

unofficial impact factor 1.74

This article is part of the supplement: 15th Paediatric Rheumatology European Society (PreS) Congress

Open Access Poster presentation

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha polymorphism and susceptibility to juvenile idiopathic arthritis

S Bayraktar*, O Kasapcopur, N Arisoy, B Batar and M Guven

  • * Corresponding author: S Bayraktar

Author Affiliations

Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical School, Istanbul, Turkey

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Pediatric Rheumatology 2008, 6(Suppl 1):P6 doi:10.1186/1546-0096-6-S1-P6


The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.ped-rheum.com/content/6/S1/P6


Published:15 September 2008

© 2008 Bayraktar et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Background

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a complex, multifactorial and chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology with considerable variability in which tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) plays an important role. Both genetic and environmental factors can contribute to a susceptibility to disease initiation as well as a severity of disease course. TNF-α polymorphisms may be an independent marker of susceptibility and severity of JIA. The aim of this study was to elucidate putative association between the -863 C/A polymorphism in the promoter region of the TNF-a gene and susceptibility to onset and severity of JIA.

Methods

We used PCR-RFLP (polymerase chain reaction – restriction fragment length polymorphism) method to detect the -863 C/A polymorphism. We analyzed DNA samples from 76 patients with JIA and 80 healthy individuals.

Results

The distribution of TNF-α genotypes in cases differed significantly from that in the controls, comparing TNF-α A carriers (CA or AA genotypes) with noncarriers (CC genotype) (OR = 2.49; 95% CI: 1.21–5.14; P = 0.01). However, TNF-α -863 C/A allele frequencies were not significantly different between cases and controls.

Conclusion

The TNF-α CC genotype was associated with increased risk factor for JIA in a sample of Turkish patients.