Purpose: Idiopathic intermediate uveitis (IIU) is a potentially sight-threatening inflammatory disorder with well-defined anatomic diagnostic criteria. It is often associated with multiple sclerosis, and both conditions are linked to HLA-DRB1*15. Previously, we have shown that non-infectious uveitis (NIU) is associated with interleukin 10 (IL10) polymorphisms, IL10-2849A (rs6703630), IL10+434T (rs2222202), and IL10+504G (rs3024490), while a LTA+252AA/TNFA-238GG haplotype (rs909253/rs361525) is protective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The white-dot syndromes are a heterogenous group of chorioretinal disorders that have many common clinical features. Whether these disorders represent distinct clinical entities or different manifestations of the same disease warrants further interrogation. Two white-dot syndromes were investigated, with closely overlapping phenotypes--multifocal choroiditis with panuveitis (MFCPU) and punctate inner choroidopathy (PIC)--for differences in clinical course and genotype frequency at IL10 and TNF loci, known to be associated with noninfectious uveitis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cytokines tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) and lymphotoxin-alpha (LTalpha) are known to play key roles in B-cell growth, differentiation and maturation. Genetic polymorphism within regulatory regions of these cytokine genes can alter expression levels and may be important in development of lymphoid malignancy. This study investigates a number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and microsatellite variants present within these genes in a large cohort of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) cases including 211 cases of follicular lymphoma (FL) and 281 cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and 478 unaffected controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate the prevalence of tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS) among outpatients presenting with recurrent fevers and clinical features consistent with TRAPS.
Methods: Mutational screening was performed in affected members of 18 families in which multiple members had symptoms compatible with TRAPS and in 176 consecutive subjects with sporadic (nonfamilial) "TRAPS-like" symptoms. Plasma concentrations of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily 1A (sTNFRSF1A) were measured, and fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis was used to measure TNFRSF1A shedding from monocytes.