Background: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic skin and joint condition that considerably affects patient quality of life. Several studies have demonstrated different associations of genetic polymorphisms in the pathogenic process of PsA. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the effect of polymorphisms in the cytokines TNF, IL12B, IL23A, and IL23R on PsA risk.
Methods: We screened 1,097 abstracts and identified 14 relevant studies published between January 2007 and December 2017. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Knowledge and Scopus databases. Meta-analyses were performed for the comparisons of alleles and multiple genetic models.
Results: Among the cytokines studied, we found 17 polymorphisms that were the most investigated. The association to PsA was observed in the presence of polymorphisms: TNF-238 G > A (rs361525), -308 G > A (rs1800629), and -857 C > T (rs1799724); IL12B C > G (rs6887695) and A > C (rs3212227); IL23A A > G (rs2066808) and IL23R G > A (rs11209026).
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that these variant cytokine genes may strongly influence the immunological response of PsA.
Keywords: Cytokines; Spondylarthropathies; meta-analysis; polymorphism genetic; psoriatic arthritis.