Genetic variants of the genes encoding zinc finger protein 313 and interleukin-13 confer a risk for psoriasis in a Chinese Uygur population.

BACKGROUND

Recent work using genome–wide association studies (GWAS) in Chinese Han and white populations have discovered several novel psoriasis susceptibility genes.

AIM

To examine whether the risk loci for psoriasis identified in previous GWAS in a white population are also associated with psoriasis in a Chinese Uygur population in Xinjiang.

METHODS

Genotyping analysis of eight single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with psoriasis was performed for 539 patients with psoriasis and 749 controls, all of Chinese Uygur descent, using a commercial assay.

RESULTS

Two SNPs had an association with psoriasis in this Chinese Uygur population: SNP rs495337 in the gene encoding for zinc finger protein 313 (P < 0.001; OR = 0.80) and SNP rs20541 of the gene encoding for interleukin-13 (P < 0.001; OR = 0.82). In subgroup analyses, the two SNPs were significantly associated (P < 0.05) with type I psoriasis, Rs495337 showed statistically difference between positive family history of psoriasis patients and controls whereas rs20541 might preferentially associated with negative family history psoriasis patients. Interestingly, using multifactor dimensionality reduction, a significant two-locus interaction was seen between rs495337 and rs20541, with a crossvalidation consistency of 4/5 and average balanced prediction (accuracy 55.5%, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

ZNF313 and IL-13 are associated with risk for psoriasis in a Chinese Uygur population, and there is an effect of interaction between the two genes on this risk.