Promoter -2518 single nucleotide polymorphism of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 is associated with clinical severity in Behçet's disease

We investigated whether promoter -2518 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) gene contributes to susceptibility and clinical features or severity in Behçet's disease (BD) patients.

One hundred and thirty-two BD patients and 113 healthy subjects, matched by sex and age, were enrolled. Promoter -2518 polymorphism of the MCP-1 gene was analyzed using automated sequencing. Clinical severity in BD patients was classified into mild, moderate, and severe features and assessed by total severity scores. Clinical features and severity was also compared according to genotypes using either the chi-squared or Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney test, as indicated.

There were no significant differences in alleles (G allele vs. A allele, p=0.845) and genotypes with -2518 SNP (GG vs. GA vs. AA, p=0.916) between BD patients and controls. No clinical features were associated with genotypes with -2518 polymorphism of MCP-1. However, the frequency of either GA or AA genotype in patients with moderate lesions and moderate to severe lesions was significantly increased compared with that in patients with the GG genotype (p=0.044 and p=0.038, respectively). Total severity scores in the AA genotype were higher than those in the GG and GA genotypes (p=0.039 and p=0.003, respectively). Moreover, patients with either the GA or AA genotype had higher scores than those with the GG genotype (p=0.041).

This study demonstrated that genotypes with A allele with -2518 polymorphism of the MCP-1 gene might have increased risk of severity of clinical features, but not susceptibility to BD.