TNFalpha-308G/A polymorphism as a risk factor for HPV associated cervical cancer in Indian population

Investigation of the potential association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at -308 G/A and -238 G/A of Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) with susceptibility to HPV-16 associated cervical cancer in Indian women. The study included 165 histologically confirmed cases with 45 precancer and 120 cancer patients and an equal number (165) of healthy controls with normal cervical cytology. PCR-RFLP was employed to analyze TNFalpha promoter polymorphisms, which were confirmed by direct sequencing. Both patients and controls were screened for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The frequency of -308 A allele in TNFalpha was significantly higher in cases compared with control subjects (21% in cases vs. 9% in controls; p