rs8179673

This case-control association study of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in 809 JIA cases and 3,521 controls identified susceptibility loci shared with other autoimmune diseases. Three novel loci were identified: PTPN2 (strongest signals rs7234029, p=7.19×10⁻¹¹, OR=1.59; rs1893217, p=3.48×10⁻⁸, OR=1.52; rs2542151, p=3.05×10⁻⁷, OR=1.45), COG6 (rs7993214, p=3.98×10⁻³, OR=0.79), and ANGPT1 (rs1010824, p=4.93×10⁻³, OR=0.77). Four previously reported JIA loci were confirmed: PTPN22, STAT4, C12orf30, and IL2-IL21. Odds ratios ranged from 1.20 to 1.65 in meta-analysis of initial and independent replication cohorts (n=1,015 cases and 1,568 controls).

This study examined 27 previously identified rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk alleles in 556 autoantibody-positive African-American RA cases and 791 controls. Twenty-four of 27 SNPs showed consistent odds ratios between African-Americans and Europeans; three SNPs (CCR6 rs3093023, TAGAP rs394581, TNFAIP3 rs6920220) showed opposite directions of effect. A genetic risk score analysis indicated that African-American cases were significantly enriched for European RA risk alleles (p=0.00005), suggesting that RA genetic risk factors are largely shared across ancestry groups.

Two independent candidate gene association studies identified SNPs in TBX21 and STAT4 as significant risk factors for systemic sclerosis in North American whites. TBX21 rs11650354 (TT genotype) conferred 3.37-fold increased risk in recessive mode (P=1.4×10⁻¹⁵, combined N=902 cases/4,745 controls), while STAT4 rs11889341 A allele increased risk 1.29-fold in dominant mode (P=2.4×10⁻⁵, combined N=1,039 cases/3,322 controls). Gene-gene interaction analysis revealed synergistic effects on SSc susceptibility with altered Th1/Th2 cytokine profiles.

This multi-population case-control replication study examined the STAT4 polymorphism rs7574865 in 2,072 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and 2,474 controls across Spain, Sweden, and The Netherlands. The T allele of rs7574865 showed significant association with RA risk with combined effect size OR 1.25 (95% CI 1.13-1.37, P = 9.79 × 10^-6). Meta-analysis across all published populations confirmed the association with OR 1.25 (95% CI 1.19-1.33, P = 1 × 10^-5).