Tumor necrosis factor allelic polymorphism with diabetic retinopathy in India

The association of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) with diabetic retinopathy (D R) has been described previously. A total of 207 Asian Indian patients of 1 5-year duration of type 2 diabetes were identified. This group included (i) 100 patients with DR and (ii) 107 patients without retinopathy (DNR). In t his study, we correlated the length of the (GT)(n) microsatellite di-nucleo tide repeat upstream to the promoter region of TNF gene with susceptibility for the development of retinopathy. The microsatellite was polymerase chai n reaction amplified and electrophoresed on polyacrylamide gel and silver s tained. In our study population, there were 18 alleles ranging from 97 to 1 31 base pairs (bp). Allele 4 (103 bp) had a higher prevalence (9.81%) in th e DNR group compared to that (2.5%) in the DR group (P = 0.002). Patients w ith retinopathy and allele 8 (111 bp) had a tendency to develop proliferati ve diabetic retinopathy (PDR). In this study of Indian subjects, it is sugg ested that allele 4 is a low risk allele for developing retinopathy and all ele 8 (111 bp) shows an association with PDR. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ire land Ltd. All rights reserved.