Polymorphisms at position -308 in the promoter region of the TNF-alpha and in the first intron of the TNF-beta genes and spontaneous and lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-alpha release in sarcoidosis.

TNF-alpha is a potent pro-inflammatory cytokine. Previous studies have proved that biallelic polymorphisms in the TNF-alpha (-308, TNFA) and TNF-beta genes (intron 1, TNFB) influence TNF-alpha production. In sarcoidosis, a chronic granulomatous disease, as a result of an unknown in vivo activation bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells release high amounts of TNF-alpha, spontaneously and after in vitro stimulation. Thus, sarcoidosis could serve as a model to test the in vivo effect of TNF gene polymorphisms. We determined the TNFA and TNFB polymorphisms of 44 patients with sarcoidosis and found the following allele frequencies: 0.80, 0.20, 0.38 and 0.62 for TNFA1, TNFA2, TNFB1 and TNFB2, respectively. To examine the in vivo effect of the named polymorphisms on the TNF-alpha production, the spontaneous and LPS-induced TNF-alpha release of BAL cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were also determined in patients with sarcoidosis. Statistical analysis did not reveal any significant difference between sarcoidosis patients with different genotypes. The results show that TNFA and TNFB polymorphisms do not determine the level of TNF-alpha release of mononuclear cells activated during the course of sarcoid inflammation. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.