Tumour necrosis factor-α gene polymorphisms and Alzheimer's disease

D Culpan, SH MacGowan, JM Ford, JAR Nicoll, WS Griffin, D Dewar, NJ Cairns, A Hughes, PG Kehoe, GK Wilcock

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent findings suggest that production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), is increased in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease (AD). We used direct sequencing methods on a section of the enhancer/promoter region and on a smaller fragment located 10.5 kb upstream of the TNF-α gene to respectively examine TNF-α polymorphisms and TNF-a and -b microsatellite alleles in a cohort of 235 post-mortem confirmed AD and 130 control cases. None of the TNF-α point mutations or microsatellite alleles investigated proved to be independent risk factors for AD. However, when −308/A, −238/G and TNF-a2 were examined as a 2-1-2 haplotype, we observed that the absence of that haplotype was significantly associated with AD (P=0.014, Fisher's exact test) suggesting that the 2-1-2 haplotype may be protective against AD.
Translated title of the contributionTumour necrosis factor-α gene polymorphisms and Alzheimer's disease
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)61 - 65
Number of pages5
JournalNeuroscience Letters
Volume350 (1)
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2003

Bibliographical note

Publisher: Elsevier

Research Groups and Themes

  • Cerebrovascular and Dementia Research Group

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