Objective: Chemokines play an important role in the physiology and pathophysiology of acute and chronic inflammatory processes. We investigated whether chemokines such as RANTES (regulated upon activation, normally T cell expressed and secreted) promoter and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) regulatory polymorphisms were associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Chinese children.
Methods: Forty-six patients with SLE and 107 healthy children of comparable ages were studied for genotypes with polymerase chain reaction-based assays.
Results: The frequency and distribution of genotypes of the -28(C/G) RANTES gene polymorphism were significantly different between the 2 groups (p < 0.001), and the RANTES -28G allele was significantly more frequent in patients with SLE than in healthy controls (23.9% vs 11%; p = 0.006, OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.25-4.28). There was no significant difference in the frequency or in the distribution of genotypes of the -2518(A/G) MCP-1 and the -403(G/A) RANTES gene polymorphisms between patients and controls (p = 0.32 and p = 0.19, respectively). The RANTES -28G allele was also significantly associated with higher initial levels of antinuclear antibody, lower levels of C3, and higher incidences of central nervous system lupus.
Conclusion: In the Chinese population, children with RANTES -28C/G polymorphisms have increased risk of developing SLE. Healthy controls with the C/G or G/G genotype were 2.37 times more likely to have SLE compared to those with the C/C genotype.