Lack of association of the Toll‐like receptor 4 gene polymorphisms Asp299Gly in Italian patients with Fuchs uveitis

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Fuchs uveitis is a chronic low grade intraocular inflammation of unknown etiology that is usually painless and characterized by the presence of persistent infiltrating cells in the anterior chamber and vitreous. One commonly occurring Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) in the human TLR4 gene (Asp299Gly) has been shown to be associated with increased risk of Gram‐negative bacteremia in sepsis patients and with susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune disease. Methods 75 Italian patients with Fuchs heterochromic cyclitis and 210 healthy age and sex matched blood donors were genotyped for the Toll‐like receptor 4 gene polymorphisms Asp299Gly gene by molecular methods. Results The distribution of allele and genotype frequencies of the Toll‐like receptor 4 gene polymorphisms Asp299Gly did not differ significantly between the patients with Fuchs heterochromic cyclitis and the healthy controls. Conclusion Our data suggest that the Toll‐like receptor 4 gene polymorphisms Asp299Gly in Italian patients with Fuchs uveitis is not associated with susceptibility of Fuchs uveitis Italian patients.