Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene polymorphisms in Behcet's disease and rheumatic diseases with vasculitis

Abstract

Objective: To assess potential associations between Korean Behçet’s disease (BD) or other rheumatic diseases with vasculitis and two polymorphisms of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene, which include the Glu298Asp polymorphism in exon 7 and a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism in intron 4. Methods: 65 patients with BD, 27 with rheumatic diseases with vasculitis, and 80 controls were studied. Analyses of the Glu298Asp polymorphism in exon 7 and VNTR polymorphism in intron 4 of the eNOS gene were made by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique and PCR genotyping, respectively. Additionally, HLA-B51 typing was performed in the BD group and controls by a two step PCR sequence-specific primers method. Results: Significant differences in Glu298Asp genotype frequencies were found between the BD or vasculitis groups and the controls (BD group v controls: p_corr=0.006; vasculitis group v controls: pConclusion: The Glu298Asp polymorphism in exon 7 of the eNOS gene seems to be a susceptibility gene for Korean BD and other rheumatic diseases.