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. 2018 Jun;147(6):560-566.
doi: 10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_2025_16.

The IRF5 rs2004640 (G/T) polymorphism is not a genetic risk factor for systemic lupus erythematosus in population from south India

Panneer Devaraju  1 , Sonal Mehra  1 , Reena Gulati  2 , Paul T Antony  3 , Vikramraj K Jain  1 , Durga Prasanna Misra  1 , Vir Singh Negi  1
Affiliations

The IRF5 rs2004640 (G/T) polymorphism is not a genetic risk factor for systemic lupus erythematosus in population from south India

Panneer Devaraju et al. Indian J Med Res. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Background & objectives: Genetic aberrations disrupting toll-like receptor and interferon homeostasis enhance the risk of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Raised serum interferon-alpha (IFN-α) levels in SLE patients have been ascribed to polymorphism (rs2004640 G/T) in interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) gene, resulting in enhanced transcript splicing. A positive association between IRF5 polymorphism and SLE risk has been reported in many populations. This study was aimed to find out frequency of IRF5 rs2004640 G/T polymorphism in patients with SLE and healthy controls and to assess its influence on susceptibility, clinical and serological characteristics of SLE.

Methods: IRF5 rs2004640 (G/T) polymorphism was analyzed in 300 SLE patients and 460 age and sex matched controls by real-time PCR.

Results: The IRF5 rs2004640 (G/T) polymorphism did not confer risk of SLE or influence clinical or serological phenotype. However, the mutant allele conferred a borderline risk to develop thrombocytopenia (odds ratio: 2.05, 95% confidence interval: 0.97-4.3, P=0.06) in patients with SLE.

Interpretation & conclusions: Our study revealed that the IRF5 rs2004640 polymorphism was not a risk factor for SLE in population from south India. It may, however, be a useful genetic marker for thrombocytopenia in SLE patients. Although we could not demonstrate susceptibility toward lupus in the presence of IRF5 rs2004640 (G/T) polymorphism, further exploration of the genetic variability of IRF5 may help uncover its pathogenic role in Indian SLE patients.

Keywords: Autoantibodies - interferon-alpha - interferon regulatory factor 5 - polymorphism - systemic lupus erythematosus.

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Conflict of interest statement

None

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