Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by a dysregulated host response to infections and is a leading cause of death in hospitalized patients. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the possible association between tumor necrosis factor (TNF) gene -308G/A (rs1800629), and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS, NOS3) gene -786T/C (rs2070744), 4a/4b (27bp-VNTR in intron 4, rs61722009), and 894G/T (Glu298Asp, rs1799983) polymorphisms and sepsis.
A total of 188 septic adult cases and 188 healthy controls enrolled to this study. Genomic DNAs from the controls and patients were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) methods.
There were significant associations between G/G genotype and G allele of TNF -308G/A (rs1800629) polymorphism in sepsis group (p<0.001). The presence of the T/C genotype (p=0.002) and C allele (p=0.001) of the -786T/C (rs2070744) was markedly associated with an increased risk of sepsis. However, no significant associations were found with 4a/4b (27bp-VNTR in intron 4, rs61722009) and 894G/T (Glu298Asp, rs1799983) polymorphisms. Higher 4bGC and lower 4bTT haplotype frequencies were associated with sepsis.
Our results strongly suggest that TNF gene (-308G/A, rs1800629) and NOS3 gene -786T/C (rs2070744) polymorphisms may modify individual susceptibility to sepsis in the Turkish population.

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