Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation and fibrosis of the skin and visceral organs. Fibrosis associated with SSc is characterized by an increased synthesis of a wide range of extracellular matrix (ECM). TGF-beta is a pluripotent cytokine in a wide range of cell types. In particular it has been found to be a potent inducer of ECM protein synthesis and fibroblast migration. The TGF-beta1 gene is highly polymorphic and two signal sequence polymorphisms at codon 10 and codon 25 are linked to disease outcomes. In this study, we analysed two polymorphic sites of the TGF-beta1 gene, codon 10 and codon 25, in 43 Turkish SSc female patients with interstitial lung involvement and in 75 healty individuals by ARMS-PCR. In our study no significant difference was found in codon 10, codon 25 genotype frequencies between patient with SSc and the control group (p = 0.676, 0.375, respectively). Our findings suggest that codon 10 and 25 polymorphism cannot be related with SSc for Turkish population.
2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.