Contribution of toll-like receptor 9 gene single-nucleotide polymorphism to systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

There are several studies on the association of TLR9 polymorphisms with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in different ethnicities; however, the results are inconsistent. Therefore, we studied the distribution of the TLR9 C > T (rs352140) polymorphism in patients with SLE (n = 254) and controls (n = 521) in a Polish population. We did not observe significant differences in the prevalence of the TLR9 C > T genotype and alleles between patients with SLE and controls. However, we found a contribution of the T/T and T/C genotypes to renal [OR = 2.949 (95 % CI = 1.523-5.711, p = 0.001), (p corr = 0.017)] and immunologic disorders [OR = 2.938 (95 % CI 1.500-5.755, p = 0.0012), (p corr = 0.0204)] in SLE patients. Moreover, we observed a significant association between the TLR9 T/T and T/C genotypes and the presence of anti-dsDNA Ab [OR = 3.682 (1.647-8.230, p = 0.001), (p corr = 0.017)]. Our studies suggest that the TLR9 C > T (rs352140) polymorphism might contribute to renal and immunologic disorders and to the presence of anti-dsDNA Ab. © 2012 The Author(s).