RESEARCH - Functional variants of IL-23 receptor gene confer risk for RA but not for scleroderma

[Guest guest]

Published Online First: 2 July 2007. doi:10.1136/ard.2007.072819

ls of the Rheumatic Diseases 2008;67:248-250

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----

EXTENDED REPORTS

Functional variants of interleukin-23 receptor gene confer risk for

rheumatoid arthritis but not for systemic sclerosis

B Faragó 1, L Magyari 1, E Sáfrány 1, V Csöngei 1, L Járomi 1, K Horvatovich

1, C Sipeky 1, A Maász 1, J Radics 2, Á Gyetvai 3, Z Szekanecz 4, L Czirják

2, B Melegh 1

1 Department of Medical Genetics and Child Development, University of Pécs,

Pécs, Hungary

2 Department of Immunology and Rheumatology, University of Pécs, Pécs,

Hungary

3 Laboratory of Immunology, 3rd Department of Internal Medicine, University

of Debrecen Medical and Health Science Center, Debrecen, Hungary

4 Division of Rheumatology, 3rd Department of Internal Medicine, University

of Debrecen Medical and Health Science Center, Debrecen, Hungary

Objectives: Recently, an association was found between Crohn’s disease and

the interleukin-23 receptor (IL-23R) gene. Since the IL-23/IL-17 pathway is

known to associate with other autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid

arthritis (RA) and systemic sclerosis (SSc), we hypothesised that IL-23R

could be a shared susceptibility gene.

Methods: Groups of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (n = 412), systemic

sclerosis (n = 224), Crohn’s disease (n = 190) and healthy controls (n =

220) were genotyped for rs10889677 (exon-3’UTR C2370A), rs2201841, and

rs1884444 variants; the first two have been shown to confer risk for Crohn’s

disease.

Results: We observed an increased prevalence of the homozygous rs10889677 AA

and homozygous rs2201841 CC genotypes both in the Crohn’s disease and in the

RA groups as compared to the controls (12.1%, 11.9% vs 5.91%, p<0.05; and

13.2%, 13.1% vs 5.91%, p<0.05), but not in the SSc patients. Logistic

regression analysis revealed that bearing these alleles represent risk for

the development of rheumatoid arthritis (2 = 5.58, p = 0.018, OR = 2.15, 95%

CI 1.14–4.06 for rs10889677; and 2 = 7.45, p = 0.006, OR = 2.40, 95% CI

1.28–4.51 for rs2201841). The rs1884444 allele, which has been previously

reported as neutral for development of Crohn’s disease, was also found

neutral for all studied groups in the present study.

Conclusions: The data reported here provide direct evidence that some

allelic variants or haplogroups of IL-23R represent independent risk factors

for rheumatoid arthritis as well as Crohn’s disease, but not for

scleroderma.

http://ard.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/67/2/248?etoc

Not an MD