Methodologic quality and genotyping reproducibility in studies of tumor necrosis factor −308 G→A single nucleotide polymorphism and bacterial sepsis: Implications for studies of complex traits

摘要

ObjectiveStudies of genetic associations with common diseases, such as between cytokine gene polymorphisms and severe bacterial sepsis, have reached conflicting conclusions. Failure to follow methodologic standards may have contributed to discordant findings. The −308 G→A transition in the tumor necrosis factor-− promoter has been genotyped by a variety of methods. Based on our observation of genotyping inaccuracies, we sought to determine whether published studies followed a series of acceptable methodologic standards and whether failure to follow the standard of genotyping reproducibility could lead to erroneous conclusions about gene-disease associations.