Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Original Article

The Role of TNFalpha Gene Promoter Polymorphism in the Development of Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis: Byoung Yong Ahn, Kyoung Ah Kim, Hae Yun Nam, Je Hyeok Mun, Jin Sook Jeoung, Young Lim; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2002;14(2):117-123. Published online June 30, 2002; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2002.14.2.117

Abstract PDF: OBJECTIVES
This study was performed in order to investigate the frequency of the TNF2 allele in patients with coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP).
METHODS
We compared the genotype distribution of TNFalpha gene promoter polymorphism between 80 CWP patients and 54 healthy controls.
RESULTS
The results were as follows : 1. The rare allele TNF2 was significantly more frequent in CWP patients (20.6 %) than in controls (10.2 %). 2. The spontaneous or LPS-induced release of TNFalpha from the peripheral monocytes was slightly increased in the TNF2 group, but these values were not significantly different between groups. 3. In the CWP TNF2 group, the increase of LPS-induced TNFalpha release was significant in comparison with that of the controls.
CONCLUSIONS
From the above results, we suggest that the TNF2 allele is strongly associated with susceptibility to CWP development.

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