Polymorphisms of IL23R and Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada syndrome in a Chinese Han population

Polymorphisms of interleukin-23 receptor (IL23R) gene have recently been reported to be associated with the susceptibility to several immune-related diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the association of IL23R polymorphisms with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) syndrome, a disease presumably mediated by autoimmune response. A total of 382 Chinese Han patients with VKH syndrome and 407 healthy controls were genotyped by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Data were analyzed by χ2 analysis. All genotype distributions in healthy controls were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. There was no difference among the investigated four single nucleotide polymorphisms concerning the linkage disequilibrium between the tested samples and those available in the international HapMap. The genotype and allele frequencies of rs17375018, rs7517847, rs11209032, and rs1343151 were not different between patients with VKH syndrome and healthy controls. Analysis according to gender and clinical findings did not show any association of the four polymorphisms with these parameters. In conclusion, the tested IL23R gene polymorphisms are not associated with the susceptibility to VKH syndrome in the Chinese Han population.