Correlations between the polymorphism of +869T/C in TGF-β1 and rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To explore the correlations between the polymorphism of the gene first exon +869T/C in transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: The patient group included 150 RA patients at the Department of Rheumatology in the First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College between March 2014 and May 2017 and 150 healthy cases as the control group. The polymorphism was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and relationships between RA patients and genotypes were analyzed using logistic regression.

Results: The genotype frequency distribution and the genotype frequency of +869T/C locus was statistically different between two groups (P<0.05). Compared to the control group, the genotype frequency of +869 CC in the inpatient group was significantly lower (17.3% vs 32.7%), while the genotype frequency of +869 TT increased significantly (29.3% vs 20.7%). The T allele frequency in inpatient group was significantly higher than that in control group (57.83% vs 48.82%), while the C allele frequency in control group was significantly higher than that in inpatient group (51.18% vs 42.17%).

Conclusion: The polymorphism of the gene first exon +869T/C in TGF-β1 significantly correlated with RA and CC genotype might be the susceptible gene of RA.