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Inflammatory bowel disease: no association between allele combinations of the interleukin (IL) 1β and IL‐1 receptor antagonist gene polymorphisms
Author(s) -
Folwaczny Chr.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
european journal of clinical investigation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.164
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1365-2362
pISSN - 0014-2972
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2362.1998.00277.x
Subject(s) - genotype , interleukin 1 receptor antagonist , inflammatory bowel disease , ulcerative colitis , allele , immunology , variable number tandem repeat , allele frequency , gene polymorphism , crohn's disease , gastroenterology , medicine , receptor antagonist , biology , disease , genetics , gene , receptor , antagonist
Background Interleukin 1 (IL‐1) and its physiological antagonist interleukin‐1 receptor antagonist (IL‐1ra) play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. Polymorphisms in the genes coding for these cytokines, the restriction enzyme Taq I polymorphism for IL‐1β and the variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism for IL‐1ra, have been shown to influence cytokine synthesis in vitro . Recently, an association has been described for distinct allele combinations of these two polymorphisms in patients with ulcerative colitis and with Crohn's disease but not in healthy control subjects. Methods We studied 56 patients with ulcerative colitis, 64 patients with Crohn's disease and 196 healthy control subjects. All were unrelated Caucasians of European ancestry. After polymerase chain reaction (PCR) the amplification products were analysed on agarose gels. For the IL‐1β polymorphism the PCR product was additionally digested using the restriction enzyme Taq I. Results The allele and genotype frequencies as well as the carriage rates of the IL‐1β Taq I polymorphism in healthy control subjects were in agreement with previous findings in other populations. Allele and genotype frequencies of the IL‐1β polymorphism were not different in inflammatory bowel disease patients compared with healthy control subjects. Comparing allele combinations of both polymorphisms no association could be idengified either within healthy control subjects or in the groups of patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. Conclusion Thus, we could not confirm the results of a previous study reporting an association between the IL‐1ra and IL‐1β gene polymorphisms in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.