Polymorphisms of TNF genes and susceptibility to CIN and cervical cancer in a Russian population.

B184

The allele variants of the polymorphic microsatellite TNFa located within HLA class III region are associated with some autoimmune and infectious diseases. It was of interest to study the polymorphism of these markers in patients with cervical neoplasia (CIN) and cervical cancer (CC) compared with controls in order to reveal the possible association with HPV-induced carcinogenesis. We investigated 119 cases of cervical cancer and 44 cases of CIN I-III. As a control 139 females of the same age group and nationality (Russian) without any cancer autoimmune or infectious diseases were studied. A significant decrease of TNF a7 frequency in CC patients versus the CIN patients (p=0.027) was observed. The tumor necrosis factor-α gene (TNFα)-308(G→A) polymorphism is associated with a 6- to 9- fold increase of TNFα production. The high-secretor allele A association with the CC risk was shown in some populations. We have analyzed the TNFα-308 polymorphism in 138 cases of CC and CIN. The decrease of the low-secretor genotype (GG) frequency in CC patients (p=0.23) and in CIN patients (p=0.022) was observed.The significant increase of allele A frequency in CIN, prevalently CIN I-II patients (p=0.011) was revealed. We suggest the increase of allele Afrequency in CIN group may be associated with the increase of TNFα activity that causes apoptosis.