[TNF-α, IL-10, and eNOS gene polymorphisms in patients with influenza A/H1N1 complicated by pneumonia].

AIM: To study the specific features of cytokine gene polymorphisms (such as TNF G308A, IL10 C592A, IL10 C819T, IL10 G1082A) and vascular tone regulatory gene polymorphism (eNOS C786T) in patients with influenza A/H1N1 complicated by pneumonia.

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

Patients treated for pneumonia in the presence of influenza A/H1N1, divided into 3 groups: 1) 37 patients with severe pneumonia; 2) 74 with mild pneumonia; and 3) 68 healthy individuals, were examined. Molecular genetic testing was made using a polymerase chain reaction technique. Serum TNFalpha, IL-10 and s-ICAM-1 concentrations were measured by enzyme immunoassay.

RESULTS

As compared to the control group, the patients with influenza-related pneumonia were more frequently homozygous for the G allele of the TNF 308 G/A polymorphism. The IL-10 G allele (1082 G/A) was considerably prevalent as homozygous carriage and the IL-10 G allele (592 G/A) was as a homozygous type to a greater extent. An abnormal zygote of the eNOS T/T (786 C/T) polymorphism was found to be prevalent among the patients with influenza-related pneumonia; on the contrary, there were mainly heterozygous C/T carriers in the control group. In the C/T genotype group, the level of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1) was lower than in other polymorphic variants (786 C/T). CONCLUSION; The study of the patients' genetic status in influenza A/H1N1 will be able to evaluate the severity of the disease and to predict possible complications.