Tumour necrosis factor gene polymorphisms in lymphoproliferative disease

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) alpha is involved in the pathogenesis of estab lished lymphoproliferative disease. Serum levels of TNF alpha and its solub le receptors are above normal Values in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemi a (B-CLL) and they are valuable prognostic markers in lymphoma patients. Th e production of TNF alpha is genetically controlled. Altered synthesis of T NF alpha has been associated with polymorphisms at the TNF gene cluster (i. e. TNFA, TNFB and LTB). In the present study, we evaluated the prevalence o f the known high TNF alpha- and TNF beta- producing alleles TNF1, TNF2 of t he TNFA gene, TNFB1, TNFB2 alleles of the TNFB gene and of the polymorphic alleles TNFd1. d2, d3, d4 and d5 of the microsatellite TNFd in patients wit h B-CLL, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin's disease (HD). This stud y demonstrates that there is no difference in the frequency of the tested T NF alleles between normal controls and cohorts of patients with lymphoproli ferative disease. These results indicate that TNF alleles are not genetic p redisposing factors in the development of these diseases.