Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on July 13, 2004
Rheumatology 2004 43(10):1232-1234; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keh314
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Rheumatology Vol. 43 No. 10 © British Society for Rheumatology 2004; all rights reserved
Concise Report |
No association between tumour necrosis factor receptor type 2 gene polymorphism and rheumatoid arthritis severity: a comparison of the extremes of phenotypes
Department of Rheumatology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands and 1 GenHotel, ECRAF, Université Evry-Paris-7, Evry Genopole, France
Correspondence to: A. H. M. van der Helm-van Mil, Department of Rheumatology, C4-R, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail: AvdHelm{at}lumc.nl
Objectives. To assess the association between the tumour necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2) 196 M/R single-nucleotide polymorphism and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) severity by taking advantage of the extremes of phenotype that exist in arthritis.
Methods. From the Leiden Early Arthritis Cohort (1700 patients), we selected patients who initially had the diagnosis of definite or probable RA according to the ACR criteria and developed complete remission (71 patients) or had the worst progression, to destructive disease (72 patients). A group of 135 healthy controls was included. The TNFR2 genotype was determined in these groups.
Results. The extremes of phenotypes did not differ significantly in genotype distribution. No difference in genotype distribution between rheumatoid arthritis patients and healthy controls was observed.
Conclusion. Our study demonstrates that even by comparing the extremes of phenotypes no association between the TNFR2 genotype and disease severity can be detected in Caucasian patients with sporadic RA.
KEY WORDS: Rheumatoid arthritis, Tumour necrosis factor receptor 2, Single-nucleotide polymorphism, Extremes of phenotype, Severity