Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is characterized by recurrent episodes of oral ulceration in an otherwise healthy individual. Some reports in the literature indicate that RAS may have immunological, psychological, genetic and microbiological bases. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the possible association between interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) +3954 (C/T) genetic polymorphism and RAS in a sample of Brazilian patients.
Subjects and methods: Sixty-two consecutive subjects affected by minor and major forms of RAS and 62 healthy volunteers were genotyped at IL-1beta (+3954). The chi-squared test was used for statistical analysis.
Results: A significant increase in the high production of IL-1beta genotype CT was observed in the group with RAS (P = 0.01). After stratifying RAS patients according to the mean number of lesions per episode, a significant difference was only observed between patients with >or=3 lesions in each episode and control.
Conclusion: There is an increased frequency of polymorphism associated with high IL-1beta production in RAS patients.