Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene Glu298Asp polymorphism is associated with Behçet's disease.

Objective. The 894 G→T (Glu298Asp) polymorphism in exon 7 of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene was previously reported to be associated with Behcet's Disease (BD) susceptibility in Italian origin and Korean patients, but not in a group of unrelated Turkish patients. We analyzed whether this polymorphism is associated with BD, in another group of Turkish patients. Methods. We studied 132 consecutive Turkish BD patients being followed up by Ege University Rheumatology Department and 91 healthy controls. All individuals were genotyped by PCR-RFLP for 894 G→T in exon 7 (Glu298Asp). Results. The frequency of the T allele in BD group (101/264) was significantly higher than in healthy controls (OR 1.88, %95 CI 1.27-2.49, p < 0.001). The frequency of the homozygote (TT) Glu298Asp polymorphism in BD (27/132) was also significantly higher than in healthy controls (5/91) (OR 3.72, %95 CI 3.44-4.0, p < 0.001). However, no association was found between the Glu298Asp polymorphism and clinical parameters in BD. Conclusions. In this study, we found that Glu298Asp polymorphism of the eNOS gene was associated with BD in Turkish patients.