Association between SLE nephritis and polymorphic variants of the CRP and FcγRIIIa genes.pdf

Rheumatology 2007;46:1417–1421 doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kem167 Advance Access publication 27 June 2007 Association between SLE nephritis and polymorphic variants of the CRP and FccRIIIa genes ¨ 1 2 1 1 A. Jonsen, I. Gunnarsson , B. Gullstrand , E. Svenungsson , A. A. Bengtsson, O. Nived, I. E. Lundberg , L. Truedsson2 and G. Sturfelt Objectives. To study the relationship between clinical manifestations in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with polymorphisms in suggested susceptibility genes encoding Fc RIIa, Fc RIIIa, Fc RIIIb, CRP and IL-1Ra. Methods. Genetic polymorphisms were analysed in 323 unrelated SLE patients and 200 healthy blood donors. The genotype frequencies were compared between clinical subsets of SLE patients, as well as with healthy controls. Clinical manifestations included the ACR classification criteria. Nephritis was further classified according to WHO class on renal biopsy. Results. Presence of a CRP4 A-allele was associated with SLE nephritis (P 0.01) and inversely correlated with arthritis (P 0.01), when comparing within the SLE group. The Fc RIIIa F/F genotype was also associated with nephritis (WHO class III and IV, P ¼ 0.04 for the SLE group) and in combination with the CRP4 A-allele a stronger association was noted (P 0.001). Furthermore, the Fc RIIIb NA2/NA2 genotype was associated with butterfly rash (P 0.01). An association was found between seizures and the presence of both the Fc RIIa R/R and the Fc RIIIa F/F genotypes (P 0.01) and an inverse correlation between serositis and the CRP4 A-allele when present toget