[Distribution of allelic variants of promotor sites of cytokine genes and endothelial growth factor gene among healthy subjects and patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a Russian Europeoid population].

The article reports results of the first study of cytokine gene polymorphic sites and analysis of distribution of their complexes among healthy subjects and patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) representative of the Russian Europeoid population; their possible prognostic significance is evaluated. Comprehensive analysis of the frequency of allelic variants of cytokine genes IL1B C-31T, IL6 G-174C, TNFA A-238G, TNFA A-308G, TNFA A-863C, IL4 C-590T, IL10 A-592C and VEGF C-2578A was performed for 513 residents of the Novosibirsk region showing no obvious signs of any diseases and 125 RA patients. The results suggest association of RA with certain alleles of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine genes. Complex indices reflecting combinations of genotypes of two, three, four, five, six and seven loci of the explored cytokine genes found in individual patient demonstrate their high specificity for RA. It is supposed that these findings can be used in further clinical studies for the development of algorithm designed to detect risk groups among clinically healthy subjects.