Do synovial biopsies help to support evidence for involvement of innate immunity in the immunopathology of Behçet's disease?

CD11a, CD11c, and CD18 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to Behçet's disease in Koreans

Lesions of Behçet's disease (BD) show vascular infiltrates of immune cells expressing integrins. β2 integrins (CD11/CD18) play a major role in cell migration to the inflammatory lesion and also induce cytokine production. Thus, genetic polymorphisms of CD11/CD18 may be associated with the pathogenesis of BD. In this study, nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the CD11a, CD11c, and CD18 were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and haplotype analysis in 305 BD patients and 266 healthy controls. The frequencies of genotype rs11574944 CC and haplotype rs11574944C-rs2230433G-rs8058823A in CD11a were significantly lower in BD patients. The frequencies of genotype rs2230429 CC, rs2929 GG, and haplotype rs2230429C-rs2929G in CD11c were higher in BD patients. The frequencies of genotype rs235326CC and haplotype rs2070946A-rs235326C-rs760456G-rs684G in CD18 were significantly higher in the BD patients than in the controls. Other SNPs in CD11a, CD11c, and CD18 gene were not significantly different. Therefore, the major genotype and haplotype of CD11a/CD18 may play a role in decreasing the susceptibility of BD, whereas the major genotype and haplotype of CD11c/CD18 may play a role in increasing the susceptibility of BD.