Title: Association of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Gene Promoter Polymorphism With Low Attenuation Areas on High-Resolution CT in Patients With COPD
Abstract: Study objectives Alveolar septal cell apoptosis may contribute to the pathogenesis of emphysema. Because tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α is assumed to play an important role in the induction of apoptosis, and allele 2 of the polymorphism at position − 308 in the promoter of the TNF-α gene has been associated with alteration of TNF-α secretion in vitro, we hypothesized that genotypes containing this allele would show more destructive emphysematous changes of the lung. Design The percentage ratio of the low attenuation area to the corresponding lung area was evaluated using a visual scoring system for CT findings in patients with COPD (n = 84), and these patients were classified into two groups: those with a visual score < 11 and those with a visual score ≥ 11. A polymerase chain reaction-based assay was developed to determine the TNF-α genotype (TNF-α-308*1/2) between subjects with high and low visual scores on chest CT scans. Results The TNF-α-308*1/2 allele frequency tended to differ between patients with a visual score < 11 (0.90/0.10) and those with a visual score ≥ 11 (0.81/0.19) [odds ratio, 2.15; 95% confidence interval, 0.87 to 5.30; p = 0.09]. Conclusion These results indicate that the TNF-α-308 allele 2 may be partly associated with the extent of emphysematous changes in patients with COPD. Alveolar septal cell apoptosis may contribute to the pathogenesis of emphysema. Because tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α is assumed to play an important role in the induction of apoptosis, and allele 2 of the polymorphism at position − 308 in the promoter of the TNF-α gene has been associated with alteration of TNF-α secretion in vitro, we hypothesized that genotypes containing this allele would show more destructive emphysematous changes of the lung. The percentage ratio of the low attenuation area to the corresponding lung area was evaluated using a visual scoring system for CT findings in patients with COPD (n = 84), and these patients were classified into two groups: those with a visual score < 11 and those with a visual score ≥ 11. A polymerase chain reaction-based assay was developed to determine the TNF-α genotype (TNF-α-308*1/2) between subjects with high and low visual scores on chest CT scans. The TNF-α-308*1/2 allele frequency tended to differ between patients with a visual score < 11 (0.90/0.10) and those with a visual score ≥ 11 (0.81/0.19) [odds ratio, 2.15; 95% confidence interval, 0.87 to 5.30; p = 0.09]. These results indicate that the TNF-α-308 allele 2 may be partly associated with the extent of emphysematous changes in patients with COPD.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-08-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 89
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