PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - THAIS B. de SOUZA AU - ELISA F. MENTZ AU - CLAITON V. BRENOL AU - RICARDO M. XAVIER AU - JOÃO C.T. BRENOL AU - JOSÉ A. CHIES AU - DANIEL SIMON TI - Association Between the Aggrecan Gene and Rheumatoid Arthritis AID - 10.3899/jrheum.071326 DP - 2008 Dec 01 TA - The Journal of Rheumatology PG - 2325--2328 VI - 35 IP - 12 4099 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/35/12/2325.short 4100 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/35/12/2325.full SO - J Rheumatol2008 Dec 01; 35 AB - Objective Genetic and environmental factors seem to be involved in the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We analyzed whether a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism in the aggrecan gene was associated to RA. Methods The study population comprised 170 European-derived Brazilian patients with diagnosis of RA. The control group comprised 148 European-derived Brazilian healthy blood donors. The aggrecan VNTR polymorphism was genotyped by DNA amplification by polymerase chain reaction, followed by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel. Results There was a statistically significant higher frequency of alleles of shorter length in the patient group compared to controls (p = 0.001), suggesting that individuals carrying short alleles are more likely to develop RA. There was no association between short alleles and clinical characteristics of RA. Conclusion Our results provide evidence of an association between the aggrecan gene VNTR polymorphism and RA.