Balkan Journal of Medical Genetics, vol.15, no.2, pp.61-66, 2012 (SCI-Expanded)
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a
neurobio-logical disease characterized with obsessions
and compulsions. Obsessive compulsive disorder
occurs with an autoimmune mechanism after
Group A β hemolytic streptococcus (GABHS) infection.
Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is an important
cytokine, as well as having an important role in the
apoptosis mechanism of autoimmune diseases. It is
expressed by the TNF-α gene. The aim of this study
was to examine the relationship between the TNF-α
gene promoter region –308 (G>A) and –850 (C>T)
polymor-phisms and OCD. In this study, ages of the
OCD patients and the control group ranged between
4 and 12 years. We studied two patient groups, one
included childhood onset OCD patients (n = 49) and
the control group was composed of healthy children
(n = 58). Patients were diagnosed according to the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder
(DSM-IV) criteria and with Kiddie Schedule for
Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and
Lifetime (KSAD-S-PL) version. For identifying the
poly-morphisms, polymerase chain reaction (PCR),
restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)
and polyacryl-amide gel electrophoresis (PAGE)
methods were used.
For the –308 polymorphism, 45 of 49 OCD
patients’ results were completed, and for the –850
polymorphism, 47 of 49 OCD patients’ results were
completed. According to our statistical results, there
is a positive relationship between OCD and the –308
polymorphism (p <0.001) but no association between
OCD and the –850 polymorphism (p = 0.053). There
is no positive relationship between antistreptolysin O
(ASO) titers and the –308 polymorphism (p = 0.953)
but there is an important significance between the
–850 polymorphism and ASO (p = 0.010). There is
no positive relationship between gender of patients
and OCD (p = 0.180) and no positive association
between ASO and gender (p = 0.467). According to
our results, we hypothesize that we can propose the
mutant AA genotype for the –308 polymorphism, and
that the mutant CT genotype for the –850 polymorphism
may be used as molecular indicators for OCD.
Keywords: Child, Genetic, Obsessive compulsive
dis-order (OCD), Polymorphism
INTRODUCTION
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), atten