Link-Polymorphism of 5-HTT Promoter Region Is Associated with Autoantibodies in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

• Main Authors: Shu Li, Shuang Liu, Fan Chen, Yuqi Cheng, Ru Bai, Aiyun Lai, Zhaoping Lu, Jian Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2016-01-01
• Series: Journal of Immunology Research
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/3042726

Serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) was reported to associate with depression in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients by our team. To explore whether 5-HTTLPR plays a role in the pathogenesis of SLE, we tested 138 SLE patients and 138 age and sex matched health controls (HCs) for 5-HTTLPR by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and agarose gel electrophoresis. Interestingly, the results suggest that the frequencies of SS genotype and S allele in SLE patients with positive anti-Sm antibody and anti-U1RNP antibody were both significantly higher than the other genotypes and alleles. However, the frequencies of 5-HTTLPR genotypes and alleles were of no significant difference between SLE patients and HCs. This suggested that 5-HTTLPR was not a high-risk susceptible gene in SLE but might relate to SLE by affecting production of some autoantibodies, especially anti-Sm and anti-U1RNP antibody.