Endocrine Abstracts

Cytokines play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid disease, and recent studies have demonstrated an association between cytokine gene polymorphisms and Graves’ disease (GD) in different ethnic groups.The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, TGF-β, and INF-γ gene polymorphisms with the development of GD in Turkish population. A total of 224 subjects were included in the study comprising of 100 patients with GD (70F/30M; mean age, 43.9±13.8 years) and 124 healty subjects (81F/43M; mean age, 37.8±10.2 years) without antithyroid autoantibodies or family history of autoimmune disorders.Genotyping was done by using PCR and sequence-specific primers. Statistical analysis showed a significant association between high TNF-α −308GA and IL-6 −174CC gene polymorphisms in patients with GD compared to control subjects (P=0.044, P=0.016, respectively). On the otherhand, the frequency of TNF-α −308GG genotype was significantly increased in control subjects compared to patient (P=0.049). However, no differences were observed between GD and control subjects for IL-10, TGF-β, and INF-γ gene polymorphisms. In conclusion, these results suggested that TNF-α −308GA and IL-6 −174CC gene polymorphisms are involved in susceptibility for GD, whereas TNF-α −308GG gene polymorphism has a protective effects against the development of GD in Turkish population.