Association of MIF-173 gene polymorphism with inflammatory bowel disease in Chinese Han population

Aim: To study whether macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF)-173 gene polymorphism correlates with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Chinese Han population. Methods: MIF-173 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was genotyped by tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP)-PCR in 142 healthy subjects and 98 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Results: There were no discrepancies between the results obtained by tetra-primer ARMS and RFLP-PCR. The frequency of MIF-173 CC genotype was significantly higher in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) 15.5% than in healthy individuals 5.6% (χ2 = 6.066, P = 0.018, OR = 3.067 and 95% CI = 1.257-7.482). There was a trend towards a higher frequency of CC genotype among CD patients compared with healthy controls, however this did not attain the statistical significance (P = 0.245). Conclusion: MIF-173 CC genotype may be associated with susceptibility to UC.