An Ncol restriction fragment length polymorphism in the first intron of the lymphotoxin α gene was investigated in 35 patients with Crohn's disease, 40 patients with ulcerative colitis, and 30 unrelated healthy c...An Ncol restriction fragment length polymorphism in the first intron of the lymphotoxin α gene was investigated in 35 patients with Crohn's disease, 40 patients with ulcerative colitis, and 30 unrelated healthy controls, all of Dutch origin. The results showed that no significant differences existed in the genotype frequencies of the Ncol polymorphism in the first intron of the LTα gene between ulcerative colitis patients or Crohn's disease patients and the healthy controls. The study indicates that the Ncol polymorphism in the LTa gene can not be used as a genetic marker for the predisposition to inflammatory bowel diseases. However, since this polymorphism may control the production of tumor necrosis factor, study of this and other related tumor necrosis factor gene polymorphisms may be used as markers to identify patient subgroups and to define patient heterogeneity. Further studies are being carried out on other polymorphisms and on the relevance of LTα and TNFα haplotypes.展开更多
文摘An Ncol restriction fragment length polymorphism in the first intron of the lymphotoxin α gene was investigated in 35 patients with Crohn's disease, 40 patients with ulcerative colitis, and 30 unrelated healthy controls, all of Dutch origin. The results showed that no significant differences existed in the genotype frequencies of the Ncol polymorphism in the first intron of the LTα gene between ulcerative colitis patients or Crohn's disease patients and the healthy controls. The study indicates that the Ncol polymorphism in the LTa gene can not be used as a genetic marker for the predisposition to inflammatory bowel diseases. However, since this polymorphism may control the production of tumor necrosis factor, study of this and other related tumor necrosis factor gene polymorphisms may be used as markers to identify patient subgroups and to define patient heterogeneity. Further studies are being carried out on other polymorphisms and on the relevance of LTα and TNFα haplotypes.