Nadel, Simon, Newport, Melanie J, Booy, Robert and Levin, Michael (1996) Variation in the tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene promoter region may be associated with death from meningococcal disease. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 174 (4). pp. 878-880. ISSN 0022-1899

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Abstract

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) plays a central role in the pathophysiology of sepsis. Levels of TNF-alpha are directly correlated with severity in meningococcal disease (MD). A polymorphism in the promoter region of the TNF-alpha gene is associated with differences in the secretion of TNF-alpha. The TNF2 allele is associated with higher constitutive and inducible levels of TNF-alpha secretion than is the TNF1 allele. To investigate whether possession of the TNF2 allele is associated with severity in MD, the frequency of TNF1 and TNF2 alleles in 98 children with MD was compared. There were more deaths among children who had the TNF2 allele (P = .03; relative risk [RR], 2.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-5.7) than in those who did not. There was also an increased risk of severe disease in children with the TNF2 allele (P = .02; RR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1-2.3). Possession of the TNF2 allele predisposes to a worse outcome in children with meningococcal infection.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Global Health and Infection
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0251 Constitutional diseases (General)
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	pam Thompson
Date Deposited:	07 May 2014 06:14
Last Modified:	04 Aug 2017 14:31
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/48404

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