Tuberc Respir Dis.  2005 Apr;58(4):367-374.

Lack of the Association between Microsatellite Polymorphism in Toll-like Receptor 2 Gene and Development of COPD

• Lee HS
• Lee HW
• Kim DK
• Ko DS
• Park GM
• Hwang YI
• Lee SM
• Yoo CG
• Kim YW
• Han SK
• Shim YS
• Yim JJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The fact that only 10-20% of chronic cigarette smokers develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) reflects the presence of genetic factors associated with the susceptibility to COPD. Recently, it was reported that the surfactant protein A increases the secretion of matrix metalloprotease 9, which degrades extracellular matrices of the lung, through a Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). In this context, possible role of TLR2 in the pathogenesis of COPD was postulated, and a functional dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in intron II of TLR2 was evaluated for any association with COPD. METHOD: Male patients with COPD and male smokers with a normal pulmonary function were enrolled in this study. The number of Guanine-Thymine repeats in intron II of the TLR2 gene were counted. Because the distributions of the repeats were trimodal, the alleles were classified into three subclasses, 12-16 repeats: short (S) alleles; 17-22 repeats: medium length (M) alleles; and 23-27 repeats: long (L) alleles. RESULT: 125 male patients with COPD and 144 age- and gender-matched blood donors with a normal lung function were enrolled. There were no differences in the distribution of each allele subclass (S, M and L) between the COPD and control group (p=0.75). The frequencies of the genotypes with and without each allele subclass in the COPD and control group were similar.
CONCLUSION
A microsatellite polymorphism in intron II of TLR2 gene was not associated with the development of COPD in Koreans.

Keyword

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2); Microsatellite polymorphism; Genetic susceptibility

MeSH Terms

Alleles
Blood Donors
Dinucleotide Repeats
Extracellular Matrix
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Genotype
Humans
Introns
Lung
Male
Microsatellite Repeats*
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive*
Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A
Tobacco Products
Toll-Like Receptor 2*
Toll-Like Receptors*
Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A
Toll-Like Receptor 2
Toll-Like Receptors