Association of interleukin-27 gene polymorphisms with genetic susceptibility to systematic lupus erythematosus in Guangxi Zhuang population

Abstract

Objective To investigate the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms of interleukin-27 (IL-27) gene and susceptibility to systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Guangxi Zhuang population. Methods In total, 135 patients with SLE and 150 age- and sex-matched human controls of Zhuang nationality were recruited in this study. PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and DNA sequencing were performed to analyze the IL-27 gene -964 A/G and -2905 T/G polymorphisms.Results Significant differences were observed in the distribution of IL-27 gene -964 A/G polymorphism (x2 =9.88, P ＜ 0.01 ). The relative risk for SLE in carriers of G allele at position 964 of IL-27 gene was 1.725 times that in carriers of A allele at this position (OR = 1.725,95% CI: 1.227 - 2.425). A significant increase was observed in the frequency of 964G/2905G alleles of IL-27 gene in patients with SLE compared with the controls (10.7% vs. 5.3%, P ＜ 0.01 ), and the 964G/2905G alleles were associated with a significantly increased risk for SLE (OR = 2.351, 95% CI: 1.228 - 4.501 ). Conclusions The IL-27 gene -964 A/G polymorphism is associated with the development of SLE, and the -964 G allele may increase the genetic susceptibility to SLE. Key words: Lupus erythematosus, systemic; Interleukin-17; Polymorphism, single nucleotide