TNF-alpha gene polymorphisms in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus

Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus, like some other autoimmune diseases, is linked to certain alleles coded by genes in the HLA-D region. Sequence analysis of DQ beta chains indicates that aspartic acid at codon 57 confers resistance to the development of Type 1 diabetes. However, a full explanation for the HLA-association of Type 1 diabetes, particularly the increased susceptibility of DR3/4 heterozygotes is still awaited. The localisation of tumour necrosis factor genes on the short arm of chromosome 6 between HLA-B and the complement genes (Class III) prompted us to investigate a possible polymorphism of TNF-alpha at the genomic level in relation to Type 1 diabetes susceptibility. A dialleleic TNF-alpha restriction fragment length polymorphism was found with Ncol and its segregation with HLA-haplotypes analysed in diabetic families. We describe here a strong linkage of TNF-alpha alleles with certain DR haplotypes. For example, the common extended haplotype HLA A1-B8-DR3 was almost exclusively associated with the 5.5 kb TNF-alpha allele whereas Bw62-DR4 with the 10.5 kb allele. Thus both alleles segregate to diabetic patients. DR matched haplotypes of affected family members differed significantly from those of the non-affected at the TNF alpha locus. All affected sibling pairs in 11 multiplex affected families were identical for TNF-alpha alleles, even if they were only haploidentical for HLA-B-DR haplotypes. In addition, heterozygosity for the TNF-alpha alleles was significantly more frequent in the patients. This tight linkage of TNF-alpha alleles with some extended haplotypes could help to explain the HLA-association of Type 1 diabetes as well as some other autoimmune diseases.