Single nucleotide polymorphisms in cytokine genes and their association with primary Sjögren's syndrome in Saudi patients

Objectives: To determine the allelic frequencies and effects of genotypic variations in cytokine gene polymorphisms in a Saudi Arabian population.Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 41 patients with Primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) and 71 healthy controls between October 2018 and May 2019. Single nucleotide polymorphisms genotyping was performed using the SEQUENOM MassARRAY (R) System, targeting nine polymorphisms in different cytokine genes. Chi-square tests were used to compare the patients and controls. Results: The interleukin-1 beta (IL-10) rs1143627 CT (control, 52.7%; patients, 21.2%) and TT + CT (p= 0.003; p=0.033) genotypes were less frequent in patients with pSS than in healthy controls. The C allele in rs10488631 in the interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) gene and the A allele in rs12583006 in the B-cell activating factor (BAFF) gene were associated with an increased risk of pSS development in the patient group.Conclusion: The CT genotype at -31 (rs1143627) in the IL-10 gene was not associated with a high risk of pSS development in the Saudi population, in contrast to what has been verified in other ethnicities. However, the C allele in rs10488631 in IRF-5 and the A allele in rs12583006 in BAFF were associated.