IL-10 genotype analysis in patients with Behçet's disease.

Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disease characterized by recurrent orogenital ulceration, ocular inflammation, and skin lesions. The etiology of the disease is currently unknown but evidence suggests that there is a strong genetic component mediating the chronicity of the disorder. We have examined the association between polymorphisms at position -1082, and -819 in the promoter region of the gene encoding IL-10 in patients with Behçet's disease from two distinct patient populations. The IL-10 -1082AA genotype was weakly associated with BD when all patients were analyzed as a group (pc = 0.04, OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1-1.9), but not in the UK or Middle Eastern (ME) cohorts of patients alone compared to local controls. An association with IL-10 -819T was evident in all BD patients, (pc = 0.02, OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.0), and this was because of an association in the UK but not ME patients (pc = 0.0004, OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.4-3.3). The -1082A/-819T haplotype, which is linked to low production of this cytokine, was not significantly associated with Behçet's disease. This link between BD, a chronic, relapsing, autoinflammatory condition, and a genotype associated with low IL-10 production provides evidence that abnormalities in the genetic control of cytokine levels may be relevant in influencing the immune response in Behçet's disease in some patient groups.

A CX3CR1 genotype associated with retinal vasculitis in patients in the United Kingdom.

PURPOSE: To investigate whether polymorphisms in the gene encoding the chemokine receptor CX3CR1, which has been linked to changes in functional ligand-binding activity, are associated with retinal vasculitis (RV) in a cohort of patients in the United Kingdom. METHODS: DNA was prepared from whole blood of 126 patients with RV and 95 healthy individuals by a standard salting-out procedure. Two polymorphisms, V249I and T280M, were analyzed by multiplex polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSPs). RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the prevalence of V249 or I249 variants in patients with RV or in control subjects. By contrast, the 280M variant was significantly raised in patients compared with control subjects (P=0.01), the IV/MT haplotype was also more prevalent in patients with RV than in control subjects (P=0.006), and the I249/M280 haplotype was associated with retinal vasculitis (P=0.01). The 280M variant was significantly associated with the nonischemic form of RV compared with healthy control subjects (P=0.009). CONCLUSIONS: Polymorphisms related to a functional decrease in ligand binding activity of CX3CR1 are associated with disease in U.K. patients with retinal vasculitis. CX3CR1 and its ligand CX3CL1 have been implicated in leukocyte adhesion and neuronal protection. Changes in the activity of this interaction may have a role in the pathogenesis of RV.