RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relation of the frequency of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha - 308, TNF-beta + 252, IL-1 beta + 3954, and IL-10 - 1082 gene polymorphisms to female breast cancer. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 102 breast cancer patients with cachexia and 120 breast cancer patients without cachexia. Biallelic polymorphisms were performed by analyzing the incision enzyme-digested DNA fragment obtained using PCR. RESULTS: The allele frequencies of TNF-beta + 252, IL-1 beta + 3954, and IL-10 -1082 in the patients with cachexia were comparable with those of the patients without cachexia (all P > 0.05). The patients with cachexia showed a significantly higher prevalence of TNF2 than the patients without cachexia (20.6 % vs 10.0 %, P = 0.027). Logistic regression analysis indicated TNF2 as a risk factor for cachexia in breast cancer ( OR = 2.333, 95% CI: 1.085-5.017). CONCLUSION: TNF2 plays an important role in the susceptibility of cachexia in breast cancer.