TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR-ALPHA PRODUCTION BY ORAL LEUKOCYTES - INFLUENCEOF TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR GENOTYPE

TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR ALPHA (TNF-alpha) is a proinflammatory cytokine that is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of periodontal dise ase. TNF-alpha production is regulated by many factors, including cert ain alleles of TNF gene polymorphisms. In the present study, TNF genot ypes of 3 bi-allelic polymorphisms were determined in 32 Caucasian pat ients with adult periodontitis and 32 orally-healthy matched controls, and correlated with TNF-alpha production by oral polymorphonuclear le ukocytes (PMN). No differences in distribution of TNF alleles of the - 238, -308, or +252 gene polymorphisms were observed between patients a nd controls or between patients with different disease severity. Howev er, the level of TNF-alpha production by oral PMN correlated viiith th e TNF-alpha(-308) genotype in patients with adult periodontitist with increased production found in patients with the T1,2 genotype (t-test; P = 0.037). When cytokine production was examined in patients accordi ng to disease severity, an association between the T1,2 genotype and i ncreased production was observed only in patients with advanced diseas e (t-test; P = 0.05). These findings suggest that further studies are warranted to determine if the TNF genotype is a risk factor for severi ty of disease in adult periodontitis.