Objective: .In an effort to replicate additional associations of interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) polymorphisms with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in an Asian population, we examined those genetic effects in a Korean SLE cohort.
Methods: Each IRF5 polymorphism was genotyped in 1565 subjects using the TaqMan method and examined to determine whether it could explain the association with SLE.
Results: Three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (IRF5-15-1, rs2070197, and rs10488631), which showed strong and/or independent association in Caucasian populations, were not polymorphic in our Korean population. Association analysis revealed different genetic effects in Koreans compared with Caucasian populations. In addition, conditional analysis suggested independent genetic effects of 3 variant groups in the Korean population.
Conclusion: We demonstrate different genetic effects of IRF5 polymorphisms on the risk of SLE according to ethnicity.