A candidate gene study of the type I interferon pathway implicates and as risk loci for SLE

Ann-Christine Syvänen (1) , Johanna K Sandling (1) , Sophie Garnier (1) , Snaevar Sigurdsson (1) , Chuan Wang (1) , Gunnel Nordmark (1) , Iva Gunnarsson (1) , Elisabet Svenungsson (1) , Leonid Padyukov (1) , Gunnar Sturfelt (1) , Andreas Jönsen (1) , Anders Bengtsson (1) , Lennart Truedsson (1) , Catharina Eriksson (1) , Solbritt Rantapää-Dahlqvist (1) , Anders Mälarstig (1) , Rona Juliette Strawbridge (1) , Anders Hamsten (1) , Lindsey A Criswell (1) , Robert R Graham (1) , Timothy Behrens (1) , Maija-Leena Eloranta (1) , Gunnar Alm (1) , Lars Rönnblom (1)

1 Department of Medical Sciences

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disease in which the type I interferon pathway plays a crucial role. We have previously shown that three genes in this pathway, and , are strongly associated with risk for SLE. Here we investigated 78 genes involved in the type I interferon pathway to identify additional SLE susceptibility loci. First, we genotyped 896 single nucleotide polymorphisms in these 78 genes and 14 other candidate genes in 482 Swedish SLE patients and 536 controls. Genes with P < 0.01 in the initial screen were then followed up in 344 additional Swedish patients and 1 299 controls. SNPs in the IKBKE, TANK, STAT1, IL8 and TRAF6 genes gave nominal signals of association with SLE in this extended Swedish cohort. To replicate these findings we extracted data from a genome-wide association study on SLE performed in a US cohort. Combined analysis of the Swedish and US data, comprising a total of 2 136 cases and 9 694 controls, implicates and as SLE susceptibility loci (P = 0.00010 and P = 0.00040, respectively). was also associated with SLE in this cohort (P= 3.3 × 10), but this association signal appears to be dependent of that previously reported for the neighbouring STAT4 gene. Our study suggests additional genes from the type I interferon system in SLE, and highlights genes in this pathway for further functional analysis.

Mots clés: systemic lupus erythematosus; type I interferon system; candidate gene study

Ann-Christine Syvänen, Johanna K Sandling, Sophie Garnier, Snaevar Sigurdsson, Chuan Wang, et al.. A candidate gene study of the type I interferon pathway implicates and as risk loci for SLE. European Journal of Human Genetics, 2010, ⟨10.1038/ejhg.2010.197⟩. ⟨hal-00602289⟩