STRONG IMPLICATION OF TNF-α AND IL8 GENES POLYMORPHISMS WITH AUTOIMMUNE THYROID DISEASES IN TUNISIAN POPULATION.

BACKGROUND

Autoimmune thyroiditis, such as Graves' disease (GD) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), is a complex, genetically linked condition. IL-8 and TNF-α play a crucial role in these pathologies.

METHODS

This research was conducted on Tunisian patients with autoimmune thyroiditis (AITD) to examine the link between genetic variations in the IL-8 and TNF-α genes, their protein expression, and the likelihood of developing GD or HT. A total of 319 healthy controls, 230 patients with HT, and 75 patients with GD underwent genotyping via PCR-RFLP for the TNF-α-238 G/A and IL-8+781C>T polymorphisms. Plasma levels of IL-1β and TNF-α were also quantified.

RESULTS

The IL-8-781 T/T genotype and the IL-8-781 T allele were detected more frequently in HT and GD patients than in control participants. Patients with hypertension exhibited a higher frequency of the TNFA-238 G/A genotype and the TNFA-238 A allele compared to control individuals. However, no significant variation was observed in IL-8 and TNFA protein expression between patients and controls.

CONCLUSIONS

The strong association between the IL-8-781C/T and TNFA-238 G/A polymorphisms and HT and GD suggests that these polymorphisms may play a crucial role in susceptibility to AITD within the Tunisian population.