RESEARCH - Association between the aggrecan gene and RA

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J Rheumatol. 2008 Nov 1. [Epub ahead of print]

Association Between the Aggrecan Gene and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

De Souza TB, Mentz EF, Brenol CV, Xavier RM, Brenol JC, Chies JA, Simon D.

From the Curso de Biologia and Programa de Pós-Graduação em

Diagnóstico Genético e Molecular, Universidade Luterana do Brasil,

Canoas, Brazil; Serviço de Reumatologia, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto

Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil; and Departamento de Genética,

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: Genetic and environmental factors seem to be involved in

the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We analyzed whether a variable

number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism in the aggrecan gene was

associated to RA.

METHODS: The study population comprised 170 European-derived Brazilian

patients with diagnosis of RA. The control group comprised 148

European-derived Brazilian healthy blood donors. The aggrecan VNTR

polymorphism was genotyped by DNA amplification by polymerase chain

reaction, followed by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel. RESULTS:

There was a statistically significant higher frequency of alleles of

shorter length in the patient group compared to controls (p = 0.001),

suggesting that individuals carrying short alleles are more likely to

develop RA. There was no association between short alleles and

clinical characteristics of RA.

CONCLUSION: Our results provide evidence of an association between the

aggrecan gene VNTR polymorphism and RA.

PMID: 19004047

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19004047

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