The Region of 150 kb Telometic to HLA-C Is Associated with Psoriasis in the Jewish Population

The HLA-Cw*0602 has been associated with psoriasis in different ethnic groups. But, it remains unclear whether HLA-C is the PSORS1 gene (the psoriasis gene in the MHC). Thus, several case-control studies have been performed in order to investigate whether HLA-C itself determines the susceptibility to the disease. We studied 59 Jewish patients with type I psoriasis and 79 matched controls. Polymorphic genes and markers from HLA-B (centromeric to HLA-C) to the corneodesmosin (CDSN) gene (telomeric to HLA-C) were genotyped in order to determine their contribution to the susceptibility to psoriasis. Neither HLA-Cw*0602 nor the allele CDSN*TTC were significantly associated with psoriasis with the size of the sample studied. The genes and markers telomeric to HLA-C such as the microsatellite C1_4_4 (OR=2.6, 95% CI=1.4-4.7, pc=0.018) the octamer transcription factor (OTF)-3 gene (OR=2.6, 95% CI=1.6-4.3, pc=0.0001) and the α-helix coiled-coil rod homologue (HCR) gene (OR=2.5, 95% CI=1.3-4.5, pc=0.004), however, were associated with the disease. These results suggest that a major psoriasis susceptibility gene is likely to be located within a region of 150 kb telomeric to HLA-C and centromeric to the CDSN gene.