CLEC16A—a New Susceptibility Gene Of Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

BackgroundAutoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) are multifactorial where disease phenotypes seem to emerge from the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. CLEC16A is a gene whose detail function is unknown but it is susceptibility to many autoimmune diseases. So the research has been initiated to find its association with autoimmune disease. ObjectiveTo investigate the association of CLEC16A gene polymorphism with autoimmune thyroid disease(AITD) in Chinese Han population.MethodsSix hundred and Sixty-seven Chinese patients with AITD (AITD group) were selected as research subjects, which included four hundred and seventeen patients with Graves’disease (GD group) and two hundred and fifty patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis(HT group). Three hundred and one healthy persons’blood donors were selected as healthy control group. Polymerase Chain Reaction(PCR) technique was used to extract genomic DNA from peripheralwhite blood cells, then MassArray Analyzer Compac technique was used to study the distributions of5CLEC16A alleles (rs12708716, rsl2917716, rsl2931878, rs2903692and rs6498169)in AITD group and healthy control group. And the relationship between CLEC16A gene polymorphism and genetic susceptibility of AITD in Chinese were studied.ResultsThe frequencies of allele G of rs6498169in HT patients were significantly increased compared with those of the controls (P=0.018, OR=1.335,95%CI1.051-1.696). The GG haplotype (rs12708716-rs6498169)was associated with an increased risk of HT (P=0.015, OR=1.344,95%CI=1.058-1.708).ConclusionThe polymorphisms rs6498169of CLEC16A confer significant susceptibility to AITD in Chinese Han population.