The Association Of Chemokine Gene Polymorphisms With VKH And Behcet's Disease In A Chinese Han Population

PurposesChemokines also play a crucial role in the development of uveitis.The genetic variations that can lead to chronic inflammation have been attributed to genes encoding chemokines.Earlier we reported that CCL2 polymorphisms were protective for BD.In the current study we expanded the number of chemokines and also included VKH patients.To investigate the association of chemokine gene polymorphisms and Vogt Koyanagi Harada(VKH)and Behcet's disease(BD)in a Chinese Han population.MethodsA case-control study was performed.Three hundred and seventy-one BD patients,371 VKH patients and 605 healthy controls were recruited to determine genetic variants of 26 SNPs in 12 chemokine genes with iPLEX Gold genotyping assay and Sequenom MassARRAY or TaqMan SNP assays.ResultsIn this study,Puncorr values showed a weak association of five SNPs of five genes in BD andthree SNPs of three genes in VKH.However,after Bonferroni correction,there were no significant differences of genotype and allele frequencies in the 26 investigated SNPs between BD or VKH patients and healthy individuals.Haplotype analysis for the chemokine genes showed a significant association with the TC haplotype of CXCL12 in VKH(P=0.008,Pc =0.032,OR=0.745,95%CI=0.599-0.927).Stratified gender analysis and genotype-phenotype analysis were conducted to analyze the association of the 26 SNPs of 12 chemokine genes with BD and VKH syndrome.However,no significant association was observed after Bonferroni correction.MDR analysis showed that no gene–gene interaction(epistatic effect)was detectable in the investigated chemokine genes.ConclusionsThis study showed no association of 26 SNPs in 12 chemokine genes with both BD and VKH syndrome in a Chinese Han population.The haplotype TC of the CXCL12 gene,however did show a significant association with VKH compared with healthy controls.