Association of 308G/A TNF-α gene polymorphism and spontaneous preterm birth in Acehnese ethnic group, Indonesia: This polymorphism is not associated with preterm birth

Abstract

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) gene promoter (308G/A TNFA) is associated with higher gene expression. The role of this SNP as a risk factor for spontaneous preterm birth has been assessed in some regions and the findings were significantly different between race and ethnic groups.
Aim: To provide the scientific evidence whether allele A within SNP 308G/A TNFA promoter is a risk factor for spontaneous preterm birth among Acehnese ethnic or not.
Subjects and methods: In this case–control study, the genotypes of SNP 308G/A TNFA among 40 patients with spontaneous preterm birth and 40 patients with term birth were determined by realtime polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The concentrations of TNF-α from blood were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The differences in genotype distributions, dominant and recessive models, and allele frequencies between case and control groups were analyzed with Chi-squared test. Deviation of genotype frequencies from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) was assessed by Fisher’s exact test.