Crohnʼs disease and polymorphism of heat shock protein gene HSP70-2 in the Tunisian population

BACKGROUND AND AIMSCrohnʼs disease is a multifactorial disorder with a pivotal role of the genetic component. HSP70-2 gene, located in IBD3 region, has a PstI polymorphic site associated recently with Crohnʼs disease especially with a perforating form. In this study, we sought to determine whether this polymorphism was associated with Crohnʼs disease in the Tunisian population and its correlation with clinical manifestation of the disease. METHODSIn all, 148 patients with Crohnʼs disease and 81 healthy individuals were genotyped for the HSP70-2 PstI polymorphism by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. RESULTSThe allele and genotype frequency of the PstI polymorphism did not differ between patients and controls. Furthermore, this polymorphism was not associated with specific disease behavior. CONCLUSIONThis study reported the absence of association between Crohnʼs disease and HSP70-2 gene in the Tunisian population. The allele A of PstI polymorphism was not associated with phenotype of the disease.