RANTES promoter polymorphism as a genetic risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis in the Chinese

Objectives: There is increasing evidence suggesting a role of RANTES in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and we evaluated the possible effect of RANTES gene on the susceptibility to RA in Chinese patients. Methods: We examined the polymorphisms at the promoter positions -28 and -403 of this gene in 151 Chinese RA patients and 149 ethnically matched healthy controls. Results: The genotypic frequencies in this study were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. RA patients had significantly higher frequencies of the A allele (36.1 % vs. 27.5%, p = 0.024) and A/A genotype (odds ratio [OR] = 3.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4-7.9, p = 0.005) at the promoter -403 position. Differences in allele and genotype frequencies at the promoter -28 position between patients and controls were not statistically significant (for G allele, p = 0.103 and for genotype, p = 0.106). RA patients also had a significantly higher frequency of the -28 C/G with -403 A/A compound genotype (OR = 4.6, 95% CI = 1.5-14.5, p = 0.005), and a higher frequency of the -28 G/-403 A haplotype with marginal statistical significance (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.0-3.1, p = 0. 059). Conclusion: Our results indicate that polymorphism in the promoter region of RANTES gene is associated with the susceptibility to RA in the Chinese population.