Analysis of genetic polymorphisms at the interleukin-10 and tumour necrosis factor loci in early-onset periodontitis

Early onset periodontitis (EOP) is considered to have a substantial genetic basis, although the gene or genes involved have not been elucidated. The a im of the present study was to investigate possible links between generaliz ed EOP (GEOP) and genes regulating expression of the cytokines tumour necro sis factor (TNF) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). Microsatellite marker DNA sequ ences corresponding to phenotypic variations in cytokine response were anal ysed. Genotypic variations in cytokine response have been shown in vitro fo r TNF and IL-10, and specific alleles are implicated in diseases such as sy stemic lupus erythmatosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two microsat ellites at the IL-10 locus, IL10.R and IL10.G, and 1 microsatellite at the TNF locus, TNFa, were typed for 77 GEOP patients in the West of Scotland. D ue to the highly polymorphic nature of the microsatellite loci, a statistic al comparison with ethnically matched healthy controls (TNFa, n = 91, IL10. R, n = 94, IL10.G, n = 102) was conducted using a Monte Carlo simulation fo r each marker. No significant differences were observed for any of the 3 ma rkers, although there were possible indications of trends similar to those observed in SLE for the IL10.G marker. In conclusion, no links were found b etween GEOP and microsatellites at TNFa, IL10.R or IL10.G loci.