Pro12Ala polymorphism in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) gene in inflammatory bowel disease.

Background & Aims: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) has recently been implicated as an endogenous regulator of cellular proliferation and inflammation. Impaired expression of PPAR-gamma in colonic epithelial cells in ulcerative colitis (UC) and increased expression in hypertrophic mesenteric adipose tissue in Crohn's disease (CD) have been reported. Furthermore, PPAR-gamma ligands have been shown to inhibit tissue injury associated with immune activation in UC. Any mutation in PPAR-gamma gene may be responsible for the increase in inflammatory mediators and hence the perpetuation of inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. One common polymorphism in PPAR-gamma gene is proline to alanine substitution (Pro12Ala) which results from a CCA to GCA missense substitution in codon 12 of exon 2 of the PPAR-gamma gene. In this study, we aimed to explore Pro12Ala polymorphism in PPAR-gamma gene in IBD in Turkish patients.

Methods: 69 patients with CD, 45 with UC and 100 controls of similar age and sex were studied. Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood leucocytes and mutagenically separated-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses were performed to determine the Pro12Ala polymorphism of the PPAR-gamma gene.

Results: We observed no significant differences in the frequency of the Pro12Ala polymorphism in the PPAR-gamma gene among subjects with CD, UC and controls (15.9%, 15.5% and 13%, respectively, p>0.05).

Conclusion: These results suggest that Pro12Ala polymorphism in the PPAR-gamma gene relates neither to the risk of the development of inflammatory bowel disease nor to the clinical subtypes of CD in the Turkish population.