A diplotype in the lymphotoxin alpha gene is associated with differential expression of LTA mRNA induced by Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria

Summary We sequenced the lymphotoxin alpha (LTA) promoter and identified LTA10G>A in strong linkage with LTA252G>A and LTA723C>A. Stimulated cells from LTA723AA: LTA252GG:LTA10AA individuals had significantly higher LTA mRNA levels than LTA723CC:LTA252AA:LTA10GG and LTA723AA:LTA252AG:LTA10GA individuals, suggesting that this diplotype may contain a functional polymorphism explaining the observed disease associations with LTA252G>A.