Association between estrogen receptor polymorphism with pain susceptibility in female TMJ osteoarthritis patients

Abstract

[한글]

[영문]The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible association between estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) polymorphism and pain susceptibility in female symptomatic temporomandibular joint (TMJ) osteoarthritis (OA) patients. One hundred women, diagnosed as TMJ OA according to the research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (RDC?TMD), were selected as a patient group, and 74 women with no sign and symptom of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) were assigned to a control group. PvuⅡ and XbaⅠ restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) were analyzed by direct haplotyping. To determine the presence of an association between ERα polymorphism and TMJ pain intensity, the patient group was divided into three subgroups according to visual analogue scale(VAS): Mild pain (0≤VAS＜4); Moderate pain (4≤VAS＜7); Severe pain (7≤VAS≤10). Frequencies of genotypes and haplotypes in the patient and control groups were compared, and the association between pain intensity and copy numbers of PX haplotype were evaluated using the chi?square test. No significant differences in genotype and haplotype frequencies were observed between the patient and control groups (p＞.05). However, patients (TMJ OA patients) carrying PX haplotype were found to have a significantly higher risk of moderate or severe pain compared to the patients without PX haplotype, suggesting that ERα polymorphism may be associated with pain susceptibility in female TMJ OA patients.