Association Study Of Chemokine Receptor 6 Gene Singlenucleotide Polymorphisms With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Background Chemokine receptor 6(CCR6) is a multifunctional cytokine receptor. Recently, CCR6 have been reported to be associated with a number of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Graves’ disease and Crohn’s disease. However, few studies have focused on the possible association between CCR6 and SLE. It is still not known whether the CCR6 polymorphism confer susceptibility to SLE, which is the aim of this study.Objective This study was conducted to investigate the association of CCR6 gene rs3093024, rs1854853 polymorphism with SLE and its clinical features in Chinese Han populations.Methods A total of 760 patients with SLE from the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and Anhui Provincial Hospital were recruited in our study. 761 normal controls from Anhui Medical University and the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University were enrolled. The demographic characteristics and clinical features were collected for all subjects by using self-designed questionnaire, and blood samples were collected. Genotypes of CCR6 gene rs3093024 and rs1854853 were detected by Taq Man technology. Allele and genotype frequencies were compared between SLE patients and normal controls. Additionally, the association between allele and genotype frequencies and different clinical phenotypes in SLE patients were also detected.Results(1) For CCR6 gene rs3093024, allelic frequencies for A and G were 40.79%, and 59.21% in SLE patients and 42.38% and 57.62% in health controls. We found no significant difference between SLE patients and health controls(?2 = 0.79, P = 0.374). Genotypic frequencies for AA, AG and GG were 17.89%, 45.79% and 36.32% in SLE patients and 18.13%, 48.49% and 33.38% in health controls. Our study also failed to detected a significant association between the genotypes and SLE(?2 = 1.54, P = 0.463). Similarly, no significant association was found either in dominant or recessive model between CCR6 gene rs3093024 polymorphism and SLE risk(all P > 0.05).For CCR6 gene rs1854853, the allele frequencies of G and A were 49.34% and 50.66% in SLE patients, while 49.47% and 50.53% in health controls. No statistical significant difference between SLE patients and health controls(?2 = 0.01, P = 0.942). The genotype frequencies of GG、AG and AA were 23.95%, 50.79% and 25.26% in SLE patients, while 24.70%, 49.54% and 25.76% in health controls. We also failed to showed an association between the genotypes and SLE(χ2 = 0.24, P = 0.885). Additionally, there was no significant association between CCR6 gene rs3093024 polymorphism and SLE in either dominant or recessive model(all P > 0.05).(2) The present study suggests that the CCR6 gene rs3093024 A allele might play a protective role for discoid rash in SLE patients. We found CCR6 gene rs3093024 A allele might play a protective role for malar rash in patients using allele gene(A vs. G: OR = 0.654, 95% CI:0.447- 0.958, P = 0.028) and dominant model(AA+AG vs. GG: OR = 0.539, 95% CI: 0.324- 0.895, P = 0.016).Conclusions No significant association of CCR6 gene rs3093024 with genetic susceptibility to SLE was detected by our study. Interestingly, rs3093024 might be associated with the discoid rash in SLE patients. However, we failed to reveal any association of CCR6 rs1854853 with the development of SLE or its clinical features.