Association of TNF- promoter polymorphisms with the outcome of persistent HBV infection in a northeast Chinese Han population

Tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) plays an important role in the pathogenesis and clinical outcome of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between functional polymorphisms of TNF- and different outcomes of persistent HBV infection in a northeast Chinese Han population. Here 189 HBV spontaneously recovered subjects (SR), 571 HBV-infected patients including 180 chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 196 liver cirrhosis (LC), and 195 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) individuals were enrolled in this study. All the samples were genotyped for TNF- 857C/T and 863C/A using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. The frequency of 857CC genotype was significantly higher in CHB and LC individuals compared with that of SR subjects (P 0.03, OR 1.57, 95 CI 1.042.39 and P 0.03, OR 1.57, 95 CI 1.042.35, respectively). A significant difference in the distribution of the allele 857C was observed for both CHB vs. SR (P 0.01, OR 1.52, 95 CI 1.082.13) and LC vs. SR (P 0.02, OR 1.47, 95 CI 1.062.04) cohorts. In addition, the frequency of 863AA genotype was significantly higher in CHB and LC patients than that of SR subjects (P 0.01, OR 3.90, 95 CI 1.3511.23 and P 0.01, OR 3.83, 95 CI 1.3410.96, respectively), and allele 863A frequency was significantly more common in CHB, LC, and HCC cohorts than that of SR controls (P 0.004, OR 1.72, 95 CI 1.192.50; P 0.001, OR 1.81, 95 CI 1.262.61 and P 0.001, OR 1.90, 95 CI 1.332.73, respectively). Our data also revealed that haplotype CA was strongly associated with persistent HBV infection. These results suggest an association between the TNF- promoter variants and different outcomes of persistent HBV infection in the studied population.