Association between tumor necrosis factor-α and lymphotoxin α gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to extremity post-traumatic osteomyelitis in Chinese population

Objective To investigate the association between tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and lymphotoxin α(LTα) gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and susceptibility to extremity post-traumatic osteomyelitis in Chinese population. Methods We used SNaPshot genotyping method to detect genotypes of 6 TNF-α gene SNP sites (rs1799964, rs1800630, rs1799724, rs1800750, rs1800629 and rs361525) and 1 LTα gene SNP site of rs909253 in 189 patients with post-traumatic osteomyelitis and 200 healthy controls. Genetic models were applied to investigate the potential links between the above-mentioned SNPs and risks of developing post-traumatic osteomyelitis. Results Outcomes revealed that the frequency of mutant allele C of rs909253 in the patient group was statistically higher than that in healthy controls (54.23% versus 45.00%, P=0.010, OR=1.448, 95%CI 1.092~1.921). Significant correlations were found between rs909253 and risk of developing post-traumatic osteomyelitis by recessive model (CC versus CT+TT, P=0.012, OR=1.868, 95%CI 1.150~3.035) and homozygote model (CC versus TT, P=0.021, OR=2.016, 95%CI 1.111~3.658). The frequency of CC (29.63%) in the patient group was higher than that in the control group (17.50%). With regard to rs1800629 site of TNF-α gene, we only found that the frequency of mutant allele A (4.23%) in the patient group was statistically lower than that(7.75%) in the control group (P=0.040, OR=0.526, 95%CI 0.283~0.978). Conclusions LTα gene SNP site rs909253 may be linked with elevated risk of developing post-traumatic osteomyelitis in Chinese population. Mutant allele C may be a risk factor and people with genotype of CC may be a group at a higher risk of developing post-traumatic osteomyelitis in China. Key words: Osteomyelitis; Tumor necrosis factors; Case-control studies; Gene polymorphisms; Onset risk