Search

Background Methods. Genotyping was carried out, with a tetra-primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, for 659 DNA specimens from 438 healthy volunteers and 221 patients with UC. Genotype distribution between cases and controls and the association of patients’ genotypes with clinical parameters were statistically evaluated. Results. No significant difference in genotype distribution was found between UC patients and healthy controls. However, when the relation of the C/C genotype to clinical parameters in UC patients was evaluated by Fisher’s exact test, it was found that the frequency of the C/C genotype was higher in patients with pancolitis type than in those with other types restricted to the distal or left-sided colon (odds ratio [OR], 10.781; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.342–86.619; P = 0.0074). Conclusions. These data suggest that the MIF -173 G/C polymorphism may be related to the extent of disease in UC in a Japanese population. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory cytokine and has been shown to be involved in the development of chronic murine colitis. In the +173 G/C polymorphism of the MIF gene, the presence of C creates the binding motif of activator protein 4. This study explored the association of this polymorphism with ulcerative colitis (UC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The VNTR polymorphism in intron 2 of the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) gene has been shown associated with ulcerative colitis (UC) in some populations. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the IL-1RA polymorphism and UC in a Japanese population. Genotyping was carried out with polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP) method for 468 DNA specimens from 239 healthy volunteers and 229 patients with UC. Genotype distribution was compared between cases and controls, and association of patients’ genotype with clinical parameters was evaluated. No significant difference of genotype distribution was found between UC patients and healthy controls. However, when the relation of the carriage rate of allele 2 with clinical parameters was evaluated by Fisher’s exact test, it was found that the allele 2 carriage rate was higher in patients with lower ages at diagnosis (<30) than those with higher ages (≥30) (odds ratio (OR), 5.049; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.667–15.288; P=0.0020). In addition, it tended to be higher in patients with pancolitis type than those with other types restricted to the distal or left-sided colon (OR, 3.005; 95% CI, 1.186–7.616; P=0.0256). These data suggest that the IL-1RA polymorphism is associated with UC with younger age at diagnosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]