Tumor necrosis factor alpha-308 gene polymorphism and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma

PURPOSE To investigate the possible association between tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha)-308 G/A polymorphism and pseudoexfoliation (PEX) glaucoma. METHODS One hundred and ten Turkish PEX glaucoma patients and 110 healthy control subjects were enrolled in the study. All participants underwent a complete ophthalmic examination. TNF-alpha-308 was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction and restriction endonuclease analysis. RESULTS We found a high prevalence of the G/G genotype in PEX glaucoma patients (OR=2.88, 95% CI 1.15-7.20). The A polymorphic allele frequency was 3.2% in patients with PEX compared with 8.2% in controls (p=0.023). CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that TNF-alpha-308 G/A genotype is not associated with PEX glaucoma. The -308G/A variant may be a possible protective factor against PEX.