Association of FCRL3 Genotypes with Susceptibility of Iranian Patients to Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a complex disease, the hallmark of which is synovial joint inflammation. The substantial contribution from genetic factors in susceptibility to RA has been well-defined. The Fc receptor-like3 (FCRL3) gene is one of the genes that have recently shown a significant association with RA. To determine the possible role of FCRL3-169 C/T and FCRL3-110 A/G gene polymorphisms in the development of RA in Iranian patients, 320 RA patients and 302 healthy subjects were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. No significant difference was found in genotype and allele frequencies of FCRL3-169 C/T between patients and controls. In contrast, at position -110 A/G, the frequency of the AA genotype and A allele was significantly decreased in RA patients compared to controls (p = 0.005). After Bonferroni correction for multiple testing, no significant correlations between FCRL3-169 C/T and -110 A/G polymorphism and laboratory and clinical features of the patients was observed. In conclusion, the results of this study showed a significant association between FCRL3-110 A/G polymorphism and susceptibility to RA.