THURSDAY, April 10 (HealthDay News) -- A number of new genetic loci associated with psoriasis have been identified, with the class I region of the major histocompatibility complex showing the strongest association, according to study findings published April 4 in PLoS Genetics.
Ying Liu, from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues performed a genome-wide association study to identify genes involved in susceptibility to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis using 311,398 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Genetic loci identified from the initial cohort of cases and controls were replicated in an independent cohort.
The investigators found that the strongest associations were within the class I region of the major histocompatibility complex. They also found novel associations with loci on chromosome 13q13, chromosome 15q21 and chromosome 4q27. The researchers also confirmed previously reported associations within the interleukin-23 receptor and interleukin-12B.
"Genes such as these are important for determining the pathogenesis of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and in identifying novel drug targets for these inflammatory diseases of the skin and joints," Liu and colleagues conclude.
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