Association of tumor necrosis factor gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to dilated cardiomyopathy in a Han Chinese population.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is an immunomodulatory cytokine that plays an important role in many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. We investigated the correlation between single-nucleotide polymorphisms of the TNF gene [i.e., TNF-α (308), TNF-α (857), TNF-α (863), TNF-α (1031), and TNF-ß (+252)] and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). A total of 110 DCM patients and 110 control subjects were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and DNA-sequencing assay. GA=AA genotypes of TNF-α (308) were significantly associated with increased risk of DCM compared with GG genotype (odds ratio[OR]=1.92; 95% confidence intervals [CI], 1.05-3.52). Similarly, GA=AA of TNF-ß (+252) was significantly associated with increased risk of DCM compared with GG genotype (OR=1.97; 95% CI, 1.14-3.38). Additionally, A allele of TNF-α (-308) and TNF-ß (+252) was associated with a 1.76-fold increased risk of DCM compared with G allele (OR=1.76; 95% CI, 1.05-2.95 and OR=1.79; 95% CI, 1.22-2.63, respectively). However,no association between DCM and TNF-α (857), TNF-α (1031), and TNF-α (863) was observed. TNF gene polymorphisms may be associated with risk of DCM.