Association of tumor necrosis factor-alpha-308 polymorphism with osteoarthritis in a Chinese population

Abstract

Objective To investigate a possible association between TNF-α-308 polymorphism and susceptibility to osteoarthritis (OA) in a Chinese population.Methods We randomly recruited 200 OA patients who sought medical treatment in our department from March 2011 to July 2012 and 305 healthy controls in the same area.Their TNF-α-308 genotypes were determined by TaqMan assay and compared.All the subjects belonged to the Han ethnic group.The OA group had definite symptoms,signs and radiological evidence of the disease.The 2 groups were compatible in gender and age (P ＞ 0.05).Results The frequency of-308A allele was 0.160 in the OA group and 0.087 in the controls.Thus the-308A allele had a risk for OA 2.00-fold [95％ CI (1.35,2.94),P =0.000] higher than the-308G allele.When compared to GG homozygote,GA heterozygote had a risk for OA 2.03-fold higher [95％ CI (1.27,3.27),P =0.003],AA homozygote had a risk 5.29-fold higher [95％ CI (1.00,27.99),P =0.050] and carriers of the-308A allele (GA or AA genotypes) had a risk 2.13-fold higher [95％ CI (1.35,3.35),P =0.001].Taking GG,GA and AA as different grades,the Armitage's trend test showed a dose-effect relationship in the alleles.Conclusion Since the TNF-α-308A contributes to the elevated OA risk,this polymorphism can be used as a screening marker to identify individuals at risk for OA in the Chinese population. Key words: Osteoarthritis; Tumor necrosis factor-alpha; Genetic predisposition to disease