Gmp. Galbraith et al., TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR-ALPHA PRODUCTION BY ORAL LEUKOCYTES - INFLUENCEOF TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR GENOTYPE, Journal of periodontology, 69(4), 1998, pp. 428-433
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.