Hippokratia 2012; 16(3):217-220
P. Almpanidou, G. Hadjigeorgiou, K. Gourgoulianis, A. Papadimitriou
Abstract
Background and Aim: Elevated serum tumor necrosis factor-á (TNF-á) concentra tion and a polymorphism of the TNF-á gene at the position -308 in the promoter re gion are associated with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). We aimed to determine the association of this polymorphism with OSAHS in Greek patients.
Patients and Methods: A blood sample was obtained from 220 patients clinicaly di agnosed with OSAHS and 319 normal controls. TNF- genotype was determined from nucleus containing cells from whole blood using a PCR method.
Results: The results demonstrated that the distribution of alleles was significantly dif ferent when comparing the OSAHS patients group to the healthy controls. The ap pearance of AA (p=0.04) and AG (p<0.001) genotypes was significantly greater in OSAHS patients (8.6% and 32.7%, respectively) compared to the healthy control group (4.4% and 26.3%, respectively). Correspondingly, the appearance of the GG genotype was significantly lower in OSAHS patients compared to healthy controls (53.6% vs 69.3%). The A and G allele appeared at a frequency of 27.5% and 72.5% respectively in the OSAHS groups, and 17.6% and 82.4% in the control group re spectively. Conclusions: The distribution of genotypes and alleles of the single nucleotide poly morphism of TNF- (-308) of OSAHS patients varies from healthy controls.