Association of the macrophage migration inhibitory factor promoter polymorphisms with benign lymphoepithelial lesion of lacrimal gland

Association of MIF gene polymorphisms with pemphigus vulgaris: a case-control study with comprehensive review of the literature

BACKGROUND

Functional macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) gene polymorphisms are associated with elevated serum levels of MIF and increased susceptibility to various autoimmune diseases. MIF levels in the sera of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) patients are increased; however, no definite association has been demonstrated between PV and MIF gene polymorphisms. The present study was conducted to ascertain any association between MIF-173*G-C and MIF-794*CATT_5-8 polymorphisms and PV.

METHODS

Seventy-five patients with PV and 252 healthy, unrelated, voluntary controls were enrolled randomly in the study. MIF-173*G-C polymorphism (rs755622) was genotyped using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by restriction fragment length analysis, and MIF-794*CATT_5-8 (rs5844572) was genotyped using PCR followed by capillary gel electrophoresis. Subsequently, the allelic, genotype, and haplotype frequencies were determined and compared for both groups. Data were also analyzed with respect to sex, age at onset, type of disease, and duration of disease.

RESULTS

No significant association was observed in terms of allelic, genotype, and haplotype frequencies of MIF gene polymorphisms in PV patients. However, a significantly lower prevalence of the C allele (P=0.02) and CATT₇ allele (P=0.03) was seen in our patient population compared to healthy controls. Analysis of the effect of various factors such as gender, age at onset, type of disease, and disease duration revealed no significant association with the genetic variants.

CONCLUSIONS

MIF-173*G-C and -794*CATT_5-8 polymorphisms are not associated with PV.

Oral lymphoid lesions: a 47-year clinicopathological study in a Brazilian population

We performed an epidemiological, clinical and histopathological analysis of oral lymphoid lesions (OLLs) during a 47-year period. Data regarding patient age, sex, duration, location, symptomatology, type of growth, implantation, staining, presence of ulceration and bleeding of all cases were compiled from the clinical data. For the histopathological analyses, all slides stained by H/E were reassessed. During the analyzed period, 14,565 patients with oral and maxillofacial lesions were diagnosed, with 45 cases diagnosed as OLLs. The most prevalent location was the tongue. Females were more affected, and the mean age was 40.8 years. OLLs presented a heterogeneous frequency, with the prevalence of reactive lesions (42.3%) followed by developmental lesions (35.6%). Among the reactive lesions, foreign body granulomas were the most common. Regarding diagnosed neoplasms, malignant represented 13.2% of the cases. The average time of evolution of OLLs in general was of 22.2 months. Regarding the histopathological characteristics, the presence of primary lymphoid follicles was observed in 37.8% of the cases, while inflammatory infiltrates were diffuse in 66.7% and epimyoepithelial islands were observed in 13.3%. Our study concludes that OLLs involves a broad spectrum of lesions that share the presence of the lymphoid component, which can range from indolent to more aggressive behavior.