Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis. We have performed a case-control association study of three TNF-alpha gene polymorphisms in a group of Romanian psoriatic arthritis patients versus ethnically matched controls. A second group of patients with undifferentiated spondyloarthritis was used in order to look for similarities in the genetic background of the two rheumatic disorders. The -857C/T polymorphism was associated with susceptibility to psoriatic arthritis in our population at the individual level (p = 0.03, OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.05-2.57) and in combined haplotypes with the -238G/A and -308G/A SNPs. Regarding the investigated polymorphisms and derived haplotypes, no potential association was found with the susceptibility to undifferentiated spondyloarthritis in Romanian patients.
Keywords: psoriatic arthritis; single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP); tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha); undifferentiated spondyloarthritis.