Study on the Plasma TNF Level and TNF-α-308G/Apolymorphism in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

Objective To investigate the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and the plasma level of tumor necrosis factor(TNF)and TNF-α-308G/A gene polymorphism.Method Plasma level of TNF was measured by RIA,and the polymorphism of TNF-α-308G/A gene was screened by PCR-RELP.Result The frequencies of TNF-α-308G/A genotypes in AD group were 0.8636,0.1212,and 0.0152 for the TNF-α1/1,TNF-α1/2,and TNF-α2/2,respectively.The allele frequencies of TNF-α1 and TNF-α2 were 0.9242 and 0.0758,respectively.The TNF-α1/1,TNF-α1/2,and TNF-α2/2 genotype frequencies of the control group were 0.8881,0.1049,and 0.070,respectively.The allele frequencies of TNF-α1 and TNF-α2 were 0.9021,and 0.0979,respectively.There were no significant differences in the genotype frequencies of TNF-α-308G/A gene between the patients and control group(P 0.05).The plasma level of TNF of Alzheimer's disease group was significantly higher than that of control group(P 0.05).Conclusion Plasma TNF level is increased in Alzheimer's disease patients and may play an important role in the process of AD.However,no association was found between TNF-α-308G/A gene polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease.