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Allelic Variation in the TNF‐β Gene Does Not Explain the Low TNF‐β Response in Patients With Primary Biliary Cirrhosis
Author(s) -
MESSER G.,
SPENGLER U.,
JUNG M. C.,
HONOLD G.,
EISENBURG J.,
SCHOLZ S.,
ALBBRT E. D.,
PAPE G. R.,
RIETHMÜLLER G.,
WEISS E. H.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1991.tb01598.x
Subject(s) - primary biliary cirrhosis , allele , immunology , tumor necrosis factor alpha , biology , major histocompatibility complex , gene , haplotype , allele frequency , genetics
Autoimmune disorders in humans are often associated with particular alleles of major histocompatibility genes. However, the chronic inflammatory liver disease primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) has not been found to be correlated with certain haplotypes so far. Interestingly, an impaired production of tumour necrosis factor β (TNF‐β) upon mitogen stimulation was observed for PBC patients, especially in the immunologically active stages of the disease. Furthermore, the identification of alleles of the TNF‐β gene which differ in one unique amino acid, and in the production of TNF‐β after phytohaemagglutinin stimulation, has prompted the idea of a possible linkage between the impaired TNF‐β response in PBC and the genetic prevalence of a certain TNF haplotype. We report here a rapid method for typing the TNFB*1 and TNFB*2 genes by a standard polymerase chain reaction, PBC patients(n = 60)as well as randumized healthy controls (n = 179) of the Munich area were studied for the occurrence of the TNF alleles. No deviation was found in the PBC collective (0.7) for the TNFB*2 distribution when compared with the control (0.67).