IL23R and IL12B genes: susceptibility analysis in rheumatoid arthritis

The identification of additional genetic risk factors is an ongoing process that will aid in the understanding of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) aetiology. A genome-wide association scan in Crohn’s disease highlighted the IL23R gene as a susceptibility factor.1 The IL-23 receptor is a heterodimer formed by the products of two different genes: IL23R and IL12RB . Our aim was to analyse whether polymorphisms within the genes coding for the specific chain of the IL-23 receptor ( IL23R ) and for its p40 ligand ( IL12B ) and interacting in psoriasis2 are also associated with an altered risk of RA. In agreement with previously published data,3–6 no statistically significant association was found with the IL12B polymorphisms (table 1). View this table: Table 1 Association of IL23R (rs7517847 and rs11209026) and IL12B (rs6887695 and rs322227) SNP with RA The minor alleles of the IL23R polymorphisms were associated with increased predisposition to …