Marked differences of haplotype tagging SNP distribution, linkage, and haplotype profile of IL23 receptor gene in Roma and Hungarian population samples.

Polymorphisms of the interleukin-23 receptor (IL23R) gene have been found to play an important role in the development of several autoimmune diseases. We examined five susceptible (rs10889677, rs1004819, rs2201841, rs11805303, rs11209032), one protective (rs7517847) and two neutral variants (rs7530511, rs1884444) of the IL23R gene in pooled DNA of healthy Roma (Gipsy) and Hungarian population samples. Our aim was to determine the genetic variability of the major haplotype tagging polymorphisms, and the haplotype profile of IL23R between the two groups. We analyzed 273 healthy Roma and 253 Hungarian DNA samples using PCR/RFLP assay. Comparing the five susceptible conferring alleles, there were significant increase (p<0.05), while in the protective alleles, there were decrease in the allele frequencies in Roma population (p<0.05). One of the neutral alleles showed increase, the another one did not differ between the two groups. The haplotype analysis of the SNPs revealed fundamentally different association types of SNPs in the two groups; moreover, the frequencies of the various haplotypes also exhibited strong differences, as of ht4 and ht5 haplotypes were significantly higher, whereas the frequencies of ht2 and ht3 haplotypes were significantly lower in the Roma population than in Hungarians (p<0.05). The data presented here show profound differences in the IL23R genetic profiles in the Roma population, that likely has also clinical implications in respect their possible role in the development of certain immunological diseases.

Admixture of beneficial and unfavourable variants of GLCCI1 and FCER2 in Roma samples can implicate different clinical response to corticosteroids.

Variants of glucocorticoid induced transcript 1 (GLCCI1) result decreased response to inhaled corticosteroids, while intronic variant of low-affinity IgE receptor (FCER2) is associated with exacerbation rates in children with asthma. We examined the ethnic differences, allele and genotype frequencies of two linked single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs37972, rs37973) of GLCCI1 and rs28364072 intronic variant of FCER2 gene in average Roma and Hungarian population. A study population of 474 healthy Roma and 397 Hungarian subjects were characterized for GLCCI1 and FCER2 polymorphisms using real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. The rs37972 and rs37973 polymorphisms in GLCCI1 were found in 100% linkage disequilibrium both in Romas and in Hungarians. We found significant differences between the two groups regarding both minor allele frequencies (54.5 vs. 43.8%, p ≤ 0.01) and homozygous genotype (31.6 vs. 21.3%, p ≤ 0.01) of GLCCI1. For FCER2 rs28364072 the homozygous variant genotype was present in 2.8% in Romas, while in Hungarians it was 5.8% (p = 0.032). The opposite changes of these two polymorphisms strongly suggest that contrary current belief analyses of GLCCI1 variants are insufficient for personalised glucocorticoid therapies in different populations.

[IL28B CC genotype: a protective factor and predictor of the response to interferon treatment in chronic hepatitis C virus infection]. / IL28B CC genotípus: védo tényezo és az interferonválasz prediktora krónikus hepatitis-C-vírus infekcióban.

INTRODUCTION: In chronic hepatitis C-virus infection the possible role of gene variants encoding cytokines has become the focus of interest. AIM: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of IL28B polymorphisms on the outcome of chronic hepatitis C-virus genotype 1 infection in the Hungarian population. In addition, the association between IL28B genotypes and the Th1/Th2 cytokine production of activated peripheral blood monocytes and lymphocytes was evaluated. METHOD: Total of 748 chronic hepatitis C-virus genotype 1 positive patients (365 males and 383 females, aged between 18 and 82 years; mean age, 54±10 years) were enrolled, of which 420 patients were treated with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin for 24-72 weeks. Of the 420 patients, 195 patients (46.4%) achieved sustained virological response. The IL28B rs12979860 polymorphism was determined using Custom Taqman SNP Genotyping Assays (Applied Biosystems, Life Technologies, Foster, CA, USA). For cytokine studies, tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-2, interferon-γ, interleukin-2 and interleukin-4 production by LPS-stimulated monocytes and PMA-ionomycine activated lymphocytes were measured from the supernatant of the cells obtained from 40 hepatitis C-virus infected patients, using FACS-CBA Becton Dickinson test. The cytokine levels were compared in patients with different (CC, CT, TT) IL28B genotypes. RESULTS: The IL28B rs12979860 CC genotype occurred in lower frequency in hepatitis C-virus infected patients than in healthy controls (26.1% vs 51.4%, OR 0.333, p<0.001). Patients carried the T allele with higher frequency than controls (73.9%, vs 48.6%, OR 3.003, p<0.001). Pegylated interferon plus ribavirin treated patients with the IL28B CC genotype achieved higher sustained virological response rate than those with the CT genotype (58.6% vs 40.8%, OR 2.057, p = 0.002), and those who carried the T allele (41.8%, OR1.976, p = 0.002). LPS-induced TLR-4 activation of monocytes resulted in higher tumour necrosis factor-α production in patients with the IL28B CC genotype compared to non-CC individuals (p<0.01). Similarly, increased tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-2 and interferon-γ production by lymphocytes was found in the IL28B CC carriers (p<0.01) CONCLUSIONS: The IL28B CC genotype exerts protective effect against chronic hepatitis C-virus infection and may be a pretreatment predictor of sustained virological response during interferon-based antiviral therapy. The IL28B CC polymorphism is associated with increased Th1 cytokine production of activated peripheral blood monocytes and lymphocytes, which may play a role in interferon-induced rapid immune control and sustained virological response of pegylated interferon plus ribavirin treated patients.

Clinical, Laboratory and Histological Features of Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitor Related Noninflammatory Bullous Pemphigoid.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune blistering disease of elderly patients that has shown increasing incidence in the last decades. Higher prevalence of BP may be due to more frequent use of provoking agents, such as antidiabetic dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP4i) drugs. Our aim was to assess DPP4i-induced bullous pemphigoid among our BP patients and characterize the clinical, laboratory and histological features of this drug-induced disease form. In our patient cohort, out of 127 BP patients (79 females (62.2%), 48 males (37.7%)), 14 (9 females and 5 males) were treated with DPP4i at the time of BP diagnosis. The Bullous Pemphigoid Disease Area Index (BPDAI) urticaria/erythema score was significantly lower, and the BPDAI damage score was significantly higher in DPP4i-BP patients compared to the nonDPP4i group. Both the mean absolute eosinophil number and the mean periblister eosinophil number was significantly lower in DPP4i-BP patients than in nonDPP4i cases (317.7 ± 0.204 vs. 894.0 ± 1.171 cells/µL, p < 0.0001; 6.75 ± 1.72 vs. 19.09 ± 3.1, p = 0.0012, respectively). Our results provide further evidence that DPP4i-associated BP differs significantly from classical BP, and presents with less distributed skin symptoms, mild erythema, normal or slightly elevated peripheral eosinophil count, and lower titers of BP180 autoantibodies. To our knowledge, this is the first case series of DPP4i-related BP with a non-inflammatory phenotype in European patients.

[The first genetically supported case of chronic benign pemphigus (Hailey-Hailey disease in Hungary]. / Az elso, genetikai vizsgálattal is alátámasztott chronicus benignus pemphigus (Hailey-Hailey-betegség) esete Magyarországon.

Hailey-Hailey disease, or chronic benign pemphigus (MIM# 169600), is a genodermatosis arising in adult age with recurrent vesicles and erosions primarily in the flexural areas. It is an autosomal dominant skin disorder characterized by abnormal keratinocyte adhesion in the suprabasal layers of the epidermis. ATP2C1, encoding the human secretory pathway Ca(2+)-ATPase (hSPCA1), was recently identified as the defective gene in Hailey-Hailey disease. More than 82 different ATP2C1 mutations have been described up to date. In this study, a case of Hailey-Hailey disease is presented where a nucleotide change (1402C > T) in the decoding region of ATP2C1 resulted in a premature stop mutation (R468X). This defect has been reported earlier in a patient of European descent. A brief molecular genetic review of the disorder is also given.

Susceptibility to ulcerative colitis in Hungarian patients determined by gene-gene interactions.

AIM: To study the inflammatory bowel disease-5 locus (IBD5) and interleukin-23 receptor (IL23R) gene variants in UC patients and test for gene-gene interaction. METHODS: The study population (n = 625) was comprised of 320 unrelated ulcerative colitis (UC) patients with Caucasian origin and 316 age- and gender-matched, healthy controls. Five variants in the IBD5 locus (IGR2198a_1 rs11739135, IGR2096a_1 rs12521868, IGR2230a_1 rs17622208, SLC22A4 rs1050152 and SLC22A5 rs2631367) and two of the IL23R gene (rs1004819, rs2201841) were analysed. PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism methods were used for genotyping, the SLC22A4 rs1050152 genotypes were determined by direct sequencing. Interactions and specific genotype combinations of the seven variants were tested by binary logistic regression analysis. The IL23R genotypes were stratified by IBD5 genotypes for further interaction analyses. RESULTS: For the IL23R rs1004819 A allele we found significantly higher allele frequency (P = 0.032) in UC patients compared to control subjects. The SNP rs1004819 showed significant association with UC risk for carriers (P = 0.004, OR = 1.606; 95%CI: 1.160-2.223) and the SNP rs2201841 for homozygotes (P = 0.030, OR = 1.983; 95%CI: 1.069-3.678). Individually none of the IBD5 markers conferred risk to UC development. There was no evidence for statistical interaction either between IBD5 loci and IL23R genes using logistic regression analysis. After genotype stratification, we could detect a positive association on the background of rs1004819 A allele for SLC22A4 T, SLC22A5 C, IGR2198a_1 C or IGR2096a_1 T allele, the highest OR was calculated in the presence of SLC22A4 T allele (P = 0.005, OR = 2.015; 95%CI: 1.230-3.300). There was no association with UC for any combinations of rs1004819 and IGR2230a_1. The IL23R rs2201841 homozygous genotype and IBD5 carrier status together did not confer susceptibility for UC. CONCLUSION: The present study has shown that UC susceptibility genes are likely to act in a complex interactive manner similar to CD.

Hodgkin disease therapy induced second malignancy susceptibility 6q21 functional variants in roma and hungarian population samples.

Patients treated successfully for pediatric Hodgkin's lymphoma are known to develop secondary malignancies; care is already taken in treatment to prevent this adverse effect. Recent GWAS study identified rs4946728 and rs1040411 noncoding SNPs located between PRDM1 and ATG1 genes on chromosome 6q21 as risk factors for secondary malignancies in patients formerly treated with radiotherapy for pediatric Hodgkin disease. We investigated the allele frequencies of these two SNPs in biobanked, randomly selected DNA of average, apparently healthy Hungarians (n = 277) and in samples of Roma (n = 279) population living Hungary. The risk allele frequency for rs4946728 was 79.4 % in Hungarian and 83.5 % in Roma samples, while for rs1040411 it was 56.4 % in Hungarian and 55.8 % in Roma samples. These values are quite similar in the two populations, and are rather high. The values are higher than those frequencies observed in the controls (rs4946728: 59.1 % and rs1040411: 39.6 %, p < 0.05), and are in the range of the cases (86 % and 68.2 %, respectively) of the above original GWAS study. Our findings suggest, that beside the already taken precautions, genetic characterization of Hungarian pediatric Hodgkin patients seems to be advantageous prior to the treatment of their disease.

Interleukins and interleukin receptors in rheumatoid arthritis: Research, diagnostics and clinical implications.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease, resulting in a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder. It may affect many tissues and organs, but it primarily affects the flexible joints. In clinical practice patient care generates many questions about diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. It is challenging for health care specialists to keep up to date with the medical literature. This review summarizes the pathogenesis, the polymorphisms of interleukin and interleukin genes and the standard available and possible future immunologic targets for RA treatment. The identification of disease-associated interleukin and interleukin receptor genes can provide precious insight into the genetic variations prior to disease onset in order to identify the pathways important for RA pathogenesis. The knowledge of the complex genetic background may prove useful for developing novel therapies and making personalized medicine based on the individual's genetics.

IL28B and IL10R -1087 polymorphisms are protective for chronic genotype 1 HCV infection and predictors of response to interferon-based therapy in an East-Central European cohort.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in IL28B and IL10R are associated with sustained virological response (SVR) in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with pegilated interferon plus ribavirin (P/R). The present study extends our earlier investigations on a large East-Central European cohort. The allele frequencies of IL28B and IL10R in genotype 1 HCV infection were compared with that of healthy controls for the purpose of examining the relationship between the polymorphisms and the SVR to P/R treatment. METHODS: A total of 748 chronic HCV1 infected patients (365 male, 383 female; 18-82 years) and 105 voluntary blood donors as controls were enrolled. Four hundred and twenty HCV patients were treated with P/R for 24-72 weeks, out of them 195 (46.4%) achieved SVR. The IL28 rs12979860 SNP was determined using Custom Taqman SNP Genotyping Assays. The IL10R -1087 (also known as IL10R -1082 (rs1800896) promoter region SNP was determined by RT-PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. RESULTS: The IL28B CC genotype occurred with lower frequency in HCV patients than in controls (26.1% vs 51.4%, p<0.001). P/R treated patients with the IL28B CC genotype achieved higher SVR rate, as compared to patients with CT (58.6% vs 40.8%, p=0.002). The prevalence of IL10R -1087 GG genotype was lower in patients than in controls (31.8 % vs 52.2%, p<0.001). Among patients achieving SVR, the IL10R -1087 GG genotype occurred with higher frequency than the AA (32.0% vs 17.4%, p=0.013). The IL28B T allele plus IL10R A allele combination was found with higher prevalence in patients than in controls (52% vs 20.7%, p<0.001). The IL28B CC plus IL10R A allele combination occurred with higher frequency among patients with SVR than in non-responders (21.3% vs 12.8%, p=0.026). Both the IL28B CC plus IL10R GG and the IL28B CC plus IL10R A allele combinations occurred with lower frequency in patients than in controls. CONCLUSIONS: In our HCV1 patients, both the IL28B CC and IL10R GG genotypes are associated with clearance of HCV. Moreover, distinct IL28B and IL10R allele combinations appear to be protective against chronic HCV1 infection and predictors of response to P/R therapy.