Cytokine gene polymorphisms in patch-stage mycosis fungoides

Cytokine production is under genetic control and certain allelic variants of cytokine genes are associated with lower or higher cytokine production in vitro and in vivo. The general concept is that a shift from a Th1 to a Th2 cytokine profile accompanies disease progression from patch-stage mycosis fungoides to tumour stage, although the results of the studies carried out have not been entirely conclusive. We aimed to investigate whether certain cytokine polymorphisms might represent a risk factor for developing patch-stage mycosis fungoides. Genotyping for IFN-gamma (Th1 cytokine), IL-6, IL-10 (Th2 cytokines), TNF-alpha and TGF-beta 1 was undertaken for 33 patients with patch-stage mycosis fungoides and the results were compared with those in a control group. Genotype distribution showed no significant differences between the patients and the controls for any of the five cytokines studied. Our study suggests that patch-stage mycosis fungoides is not determined by a specific genotype polymorphism. However, further studies on larger numbers of cases are needed before definite conclusions can be drawn.