ABSENCE OF CORRELATION BETWEEN IL-1-ALPHA INTRON-6 POLYMORPHISM AND RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS

Several studies have implicated interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) in th e pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We analysed IL-1 alpha in tron 6 polymorphism in relation to RA (50 patients with RA and 50 heal thy controls). The study of a healthy control population confirmed the existence of the different alleles with a frequency similar to that i n the Caucasian population of northern England. Allele and genotype di stributions did not differ significantly between the normal and RA pop ulations, although the allele corresponding to 8 repeats was over-repr esented in the RA population (8 and 14% in the healthy and RA populati ons, respectively). This suggests that IL-1 alpha intron 6 polymorphis m could be part of a complex process involving other unidentified gene tic factors in the pathogenesis of RA.