Tumor necrosis factor alpha gene -376 polymorphism and susceptibility to multiple sclerosis: an Egyptian study

Tumor necrosis factor alpha, a proinflammatory cytokine, plays an important role in the clinical activity of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and the development of progression. Dysregulation in the expression of tumor necrosis factor gene had been suggested in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between tumor necrosis factor α-376 polymorphism with disease susceptibility and course of multiple sclerosis in Egyptian patients. Polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism were carried out on 36 primary progressive multiple sclerosis patients, 36 age- and sex-matched remitting relapsing multiple sclerosis patients (diagnosed according to McDonald's Diagnostic criteria) and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The GG genotype and the guanine allele (G) were detected significantly more often in the primary progressive (p = 0.02; p = 0.004, respectively) and remitting relapsing (p = 0.015; p = 0.024, respectively) multiple sclerosis groups as compared with the healthy control group. The G allele in the examined position in tumor necrosis factor alpha might have a role as regards susceptibility in both remitting relapsing and primary progressive multiple sclerosis.