Polymorphism of IL-1beta; IL-1Ra, TNF-alpha Cytokine Genes in Korean Patients with Glomerulonephritis / 대한신장학회잡지

ABSTRACT

BACKGOUND Recently it has been reported that several cytokine gene polymorphisms regulate cytokine production and play an important role in immune and inflammatory response. We evaluated IL-1beta IL-1Ra, and TNF-alpha gene polymorphism in patients with primary glomerulonephritis to determine the association between cytokine polymorphism and disease susceptibility. METHODS: In this study, we enrolled 118 patients with primary glomerulonephritis and healthy 300 persons who had visited the health screening center. We analyzed -511C/T polymorphism of IL-1beta tandem repeats polymorphism in intron 2 of IL-1Ra and -308G/A polymorphism of TNF-alpha We classified primary glomerulonephritis according to pathologic finding and clinical diagnosis. RESULTS: There were no differences with IL-1betaand TNF-alpha gene polymorphism between patient and control group. The carriage of IL1RN*2 was significantly associated with an increased risk of primary glomerulonephritis (patientscontrol=12.755.4%, p<0.01). IL1RN*2 was significantly frequent in patients with membranous GN or minimal change disease (p<0.05). When we classified glomerulonephritis according to clinical diagnosis, IL1RN*2 carriage rate was higher in patients with nephrotic syndrome and RPGN or acute nephritic syndrome than patients with asymptomatic urinary abnormalities (p<0.05). IL-1beta(TT) genotype was more prevalent in acute glomerulonephritis (68.4%) than asymptomatic urinary abnormalities or other glomerulonephritis. TNF2 carriage rate showed a lower tendency in patients with asymptomatic urinary abnormalities. CONCLUSION: IL1RN*2 is significantly associated with an increased risk of development of primary glomerulonephritis. We suggest cytokine gene polymorphism is also related to clinical manifestations of glumerulonephritis.