The purpose of this study was to examine whether interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) gene polymorphism is a marker of susceptibility to or of the clinical characteristics of gout in Taiwanese patients. METHODS: 196 Taiwanese patients with gout and 103 unrelated normal healthy control subjects living in central Taiwan were studied. Polymorphism of the gene for IL-1Ra was typed from genomic DNA. Allelic frequencies and carriage rates were compared between gout patients and control subjects. The relationship between IL-1Ra genotypes and the clinical characteristics of gout was also evaluated. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed in genetic and allelic frequencies of the IL-1Ra gene polymorphism between patients with gout and healthy control subjects. Furthermore, we did not detect any association of IL-1Ra genotype with the clinical and laboratory profiles in patients with gout. CONCLUSION: The results from the present study suggest that the interleukin-1 receptor antagonistgene polymorphism is not a genetic marker of susceptibility to gout for Taiwanese. Furthermore, our study also suggests that the IL-1Ra gene polymorphism is unrelated to the clinical characteristics of gout.
Relation:
CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RHEUMATOLOGY 23 (1): 85-88
