The Prevalence of “MEFV” Gene Mutations in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Inhabiting the Van Province and Surroundings

Abstract

Objective: An inhibitory protein of inflammation pyrin/marenostrin is encoded by the Mediterranean fever (MEFV) gene. Mutations of this gene are known to cause familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) disease. A relation between mutations of the MEFV gene and rheumatic diseases was also suggested. The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency of four common mutations of the MEFV gene in 110 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and 98 healthy controls (HC) inhabiting a region of eastern Turkey. Material and Methods: DNA extraction was realized by salting out method from peripheral blood lymphocytes of all subjects included in the study. Polymerase chain reactions (PCR) amplification of exon 10 was performed by the appropriate primers, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected by specific restriction endonucleases recognizing the mutational DNA or wild-type DNA regions. Results: Mutation frequency of RA patients was higher than in HC, but this result was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion:The MEFV mutation rate of RA patients living in eastern Turkey was not significantly different from HC. Further studies are needed to investigate other gene mutations that may affect RA etiopathogenesis.