MEFV gene 3'-UTR Alu repeat polymorphisms in patients with familial Mediterranean fever

Abstract

Objective. Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), an autosomal recessively inherited outoinflammatory disorder, is caused by missense mutations in the pyrin-encoding MEFV gene. The MEFV initiations can be detected in the majority of FMF patients. but there is an important proportion of patients with the FMF phenotype who carry a single or no coding region initiation. This study aimed to investigate the promoter region and 3'-UTR polymorphisms of the MEFV gene in a group of FMF patients with no coding region mutations. to identify variations with a possible role in the regulation of MEFV expression.