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Association of STAT4 rs7574865 with Susceptibility to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Iranian Population

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Abstract

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multifactorial autoimmune disease with complex genetic inheritance that affecting different organs and systems. STAT4 has been newly identified as a susceptible gene in the development of SLE. According to recent studies, STAT4 has been associated with SLE in various populations. We investigated whether STAT4 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with susceptibility and clinical features of SLE in Iranian patients. The study group comprised 280 patients with SLE and 281 sex-, age-, and ethnicity-matched healthy controls of Iranian ancestry. Two SNPs (rs7574865 and rs7601754) were genotyped using the TaqMan MGB Allelic Discrimination method. Our results showed a significant association betweenrs7574865 T allele (odds ratio (OR) = 1.50, 95 % CI = 1.18–1.92, P = 0.002) and susceptibility to SLE. The rs7574865TT genotype (P = 0.02, OR = 1.94, 95 % CI = 1.74–3.19) and GT genotype (P = 0.008, OR = 1.71, 95 % CI = 1.19–2.45) showed a significant association with the risk of SLE in the Iranian population. We concluded that STAT4 rs7574865 is associated with SLE susceptibility in the Iranian population and this SNP might be a factor in the pathogenesis of SLE. However, further studies are required to investigate the mechanism by which polymorphisms in this gene lead to SLE.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to declare their gratitude to all contributors who have made the completion of this study. This work was supported by a research grant [grant number: 90-04-41-14909] from the Deputy of Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Immunology Department, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences (International Campus), Yazd, Iran

    Sedigheh Mirkazemi

  2. Rheumatology Research Center, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mahmoud Akbarian, Ahmad Reza Jamshidi, Shima Ghoroghi, Zahra Tahmasebi & Mahdi Mahmoudi

  3. Immunology Department, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Reza Mansouri

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Yahya Salimi

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  1. Sedigheh Mirkazemi
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Correspondence to Mahdi Mahmoudi.

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Mirkazemi, S., Akbarian, M., Jamshidi, A.R. et al. Association of STAT4 rs7574865 with Susceptibility to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Iranian Population. Inflammation 36, 1548–1552 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-013-9698-8

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