Objective To explore gene polymorphism of the G/C genotype of-173G/C(rs755622)in the promoter of macrophage migration inhibitory factor(MIF)gene in male population,and thus to investigate the relationship between gene polymorphism of MIF and gout.Methods A total of 380 gout patients and 378 healthy controls were enrolled.The possible association between the polymorphism of MIF-173G/C and gout in Chinese were investigated and genotype frequencies and allelic frequencies were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers(PCR-SSP)method.Hardy-Weinberg was used to verify the representativeness of the samples.Comparisons between the groups were performed with x2 test.The gene polymorphism of MIF and gout was performed by t test.Results The frequencies of GG,GC,CC genotypes were 62.1％(236 cases),34.2％(130 cases)and 3.7％(14 cases),respectively among gout patients,while they were 66.5％(252 cases),29.8％(113 cases)and 3.7％(14 cases),respectively among the controls.There was no statistical difference in MIF-173G/C genotype frequencies between gout patients and controls(x2=1.713,P=0.425).The allele frequencies of G and C in gout cases were 79.2％(602 cases)and 20.8％(158cases),while the controls were 81.4％(617 cases)and 18.6％(141 cases),and no significant difference between them could be found(x2=1.148,P=0.302).Combine GG and GC of gout into GG+GC,the association analysis of the two groups showed that,mean age,leves of glucose,TG,TC,BUN,Cr and UA of the GG+GC group and the CC group were(51±13)and(50±15)t=0.369,P=0.712;(7.1±8.8)and(6.1±1.2)mmol/L,t=0.352,P=0.725;(2.3±1.6)and(2.9±3.4)mmol/L,t=-1.207,P=0.228;(5.3±1.2)and(5.7±1.4)mmol/L,t=-1.207,P=0.228;(5.8±2.9)and(6.2±2.2)mmol/L,t=-0.513,P=0.608;(92±52)and(84±17)μmol/L,t=0.537,P=0.592;(472±103)vs(557±154)μmol/L,t=-2.949,P=0.03 respectively;no significant difference was found in the two group.Moreover,no association between MIF-173G/C genotypes and risk factors for gout were detected in gout cases by t-test.Conclusion Results of the present study suggest that the G/C genotype of-173G/C in the promoter of MIF gene is not associated with gout in male population.