Gene polymorphisms of tumor necrosis factor alpha and antioxidant enzymes in bronchial asthma.

BACKGROUND Bronchial asthma is an inflammatory disease resulting from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the regulatory regions of cytokine and antioxidant enzyme genes may affect cytokine production and enzyme activity, and thus play a contributory role in asthma pathogenesis. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to examine the association of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) Ala16Val, catalase (CAT) A-21T and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) G-308A polymorphisms with bronchial asthma. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 79 patients with asthma and 95 healthy controls were screened for MnSOD Ala16Val, CAT A-21T and TNF-α G-308A polymorphisms using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. RESULTS The results obtained showed significantly higher prevalence of the MnSOD ValVal genotype (χ2=14.463, df=2, p=0.001) and MnSOD 16Val allele (χ2=12.862, p=0.026, OR=0.451, 95% CI=0.291-0.699) in patients with asthma compared to controls. The genotype and allele frequencies distribution of CAT A-21T and TNF-α G-308A gene polymorphisms did not show differences between patients and controls. CONCLUSIONS Our results show an association of MnSOD Ala16Val genetic polymorphism with asthma in a Serbian population and suggest a protective role of the MnSOD 16Ala allele.