Novel Association in Chromosome 4q27 Region with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Confirmation of Type 1 Diabetes Point to a General Risk Locus for Autoimmune Diseases

Recently, association of celiac disease with common single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variants in an extensive linkage-disequilibrium block of 480 kb containing the KIAA1109, Tenr, IL2, and IL21 genes has been demonstrated in three independent populations (rs6822844 Pcombined=1.3×10−14). The KIAA1109/Tenr/IL2/IL21 block corresponds to the Idd3 locus in the nonobese diabetic mouse model of type 1 diabetes (T1D). This block was recently found to be associated with T1D in a genomewide association study, although this finding lacks unequivocal confirmation. We therefore aimed to investigate whether the KIAA1109/Tenr/IL2/IL21 region is involved in susceptibility to multiple autoimmune diseases. We tested SNP rs6822844 for association with disease in 350 T1D-affected and 1,047 rheumatoid arthritis (RA)–affected Dutch patients and in 929 controls. We replicated the association with T1D (P=.0006; OR 0.64 [95% CI 0.50–0.83]), and revealed a similar novel association with RA (P=.0002; OR 0.72 [95% CI 0.61–0.86]). Our results replicate and extend the association found in the KIAA1109/Tenr/IL2/IL21 gene region with autoimmune diseases, implying that this locus is a general risk factor for multiple autoimmune diseases.