Tumor necrosis factor-α gene -308G/A single nucleotide polymorphism in patients with syphilis.

Objective To explore the association of tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α gene-308G/A single nucleotide polymorphism with susceptibility to syphilis.Methods The study includes 56 patients with early symptomatic syphilis,38 with eady latent syphilis,and 102 normal human controls.The-308G/A single nucleotide polymorphism of TNF-α gene was detected in all subjects by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR.Results The frequency of TNF-α-308 G and A allele was 0.926 and 0.074 in patients with early syphilis,0.941 and 0.059 in the controls,0.929 and 0.071 in patients with early symptomatic syphihs,0.921 and 0.079 in patients with early latent syphilis.No significant difference was found between patients with early syphilis and the controls or between patients with early symptomatic syphilis and those with early latent syphilis in the frequency of either allele (MG) at-308 position of TNF-α gene(all P>0.05).Conclusion There seems to be no evidence for association between TNF-α gene-308G/A single nucleotide polymorphism and susceptibility to syphilis. Key words: Syphilis; Tumor necrosis factor-alpha; Polymorphism,single nucleotide; Genetic predisposition to disease