rs2205960

Genome-wide association study in 1,174 Korean SLE cases and 4,248 controls identified 12 genome-wide significant loci, including a novel locus spanning ATG16L2, FCHSD2, and P2RY2 peaking at rs11235667 (P=1.0×10⁻⁸, OR=0.59). The study replicated 10 previously established SLE risk loci (STAT4, TNFSF4, TNFAIP3, IKZF1, HIP1, IRF5, BLK, WDFY4, ETS1, IRAK1-MECP2) and identified novel independent effects in TNFAIP3 and TNFSF4. HLA-DRB1*1501 and HLA-DQB1*0602 were the strongest HLA associations (P=5.55×10⁻¹⁶, OR=1.85 and OR=1.90 respectively).

A case-control association study of 312 NMOSD patients and 487 healthy controls from a Han Chinese population found that TNFSF4 SNPs rs844648 and rs704840 were significantly associated with increased risk of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD), with rs844648 showing OR=1.30 (P=0.011) and rs704840 showing OR=1.27 (P=0.023) under the allelic model. The haplotype Ars844648Grs704840 was associated with increased risk (OR=1.27, P=0.026) while Grs844648Trs704840 was protective (OR=0.77, P=0.01).

Case-control study of 673 preterm birth (PTB) cases vs 1,119 controls across four maternal cohorts testing 35 SNPs in cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic disease genes. Found 13 statistically significant associations with PTB (P<0.05), more than expected by chance (binomial P=0.02). Most significant was HLA-DQA1 rs9272346 G allele protective effect in US White mothers (P=0.02, OR=0.65, 95% CI 0.46-0.94), which nominally replicated in Danish cohort (P=0.02, OR=0.85, 95% CI 0.75-0.97) but lost significance after correction for multiple testing.

A doctoral thesis investigating endothelin receptor antagonists (mainly bosentan) for primary prevention of pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis patients. The study reviews genetic variants associated with systemic sclerosis and analyzes clinical outcomes of endothelin receptor antagonist treatment in a cohort of Spanish systemic sclerosis patients, with logistic regression analysis showing a protective effect of bosentan treatment (OR 2.2-4.1) against pulmonary hypertension development.

This review article updates the genetics of systemic sclerosis (SSc), a multifactorial autoimmune disease. Key findings include identification of multiple susceptibility genes through candidate studies (STAT4 rs7574865, PTPN22 rs2476601, CD226 rs763361, TNFAIP3 rs5029939, and others) and genome-wide association studies revealing loci at HLA, STAT4, CD247, TNPO3/IRF5, and novel regions (TNIP1, RHOB). A large GWAS (N=2,296 cases/5,171 controls) identified HLA-DQB1 (rs6457617) as the strongest association and replicated CD247 rs2056626. Gene-gene interaction studies demonstrated additive effects of STAT4, IRF5, and NLRP1 variants on disease susceptibility.

Retrospective case-control study of 222 systemic sclerosis patients with digital ulcers examining whether endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan reduces pulmonary hypertension risk. Bosentan treatment was associated with lower pulmonary hypertension incidence (14% vs 28% in controls, p<0.05) and better echocardiographic parameters in multivariate analysis.