Gene polymorphisms of tumor necrosis factor alpha and antioxidant enzymes in bronchial asthma

Abstract

Background: Bronchial asthma is an inflammatory disease resulting from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the regulatory regions of cytokine and antioxidant enzyme genes may affect cytokine production and enzyme activity, and thus play a contributory role in asthma pathogenesis. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the association of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) Alalóval, catalase (CAT) A-21T and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) G-308A polymorphisms with bronchial asthma. Material and Methods: A total of 79 patients with asthma and 95 healthy controls were screened for MnSOD Alal6Val, CAT A-21T and TNF-α G-308A polymorphisms using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Results: The results obtained showed significantly higher prevalence of the MnSOD ValVal genotype (χ2 = 14.463, df = 2, p = 0.001) and MnSOD 16Val allele (χ2 = 12.862, p = 0.026, OR = 0.451, 95% CI = 0.291-0.699) in patients with asthma compared to controls. The genotype and allele frequencies distribution of CAT A-21T and TNF-α G-308A gene polymorphisms did not show differences between patients and controls. Conclusions: Our results show an association of MnSOD Alalóval genetic polymorphism with asthma in a Serbian population and suggest a protective role of the MnSOD 16Ala allele.