NLRP 3 gene polymorphisms in Iranian patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis

Background Recurrent aphthous stomatitis ( RAS ) is a common disorder with an unclear etiopathogenesis. Involvement of the immune system in the development of this condition is strongly suggested. As the variations in the inflammasome‐related NLRP 3 gene have been suggested to affect immune system activity, this case–control study was performed to determine whether these genetic variants are associated with RAS . Methods We studied a group of 69 Iranian patients with RAS in comparison with 56 healthy controls. We determined four single nucleotide polymorphisms ( SNP s) of NLRP 3 and performed association analyses of NLRP 3. Genotyping was conducted using the TaqMan method. Results The NLRP 3 rs3806265 T allele was significantly more frequent in the patients with RAS than in the healthy controls ( P  =   0.003). While a significant negative association was found between the C allele at the same position with RAS ( P  =   0.003), the TT genotype was significantly more frequent at position rs3806265 in NLRP 3 in patient group than in the controls ( P  =   0.002). However, the frequency of CT genotype at the same position was significantly higher in healthy controls than in the case category ( P  =   0.002). Conclusions Considering the high frequency of the presence of NLRP 3 rs3806265 TT genotype in patients with RAS , it seems that this gene polymorphism could affect individual susceptibility to RAS .