Investigation of TLR5 and TLR7 as candidate genes for susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the relevance of genetic variants of TLR5 (rs5744168) and TLR7 (rs179008) gene in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a Spanish population. Material and methods Our study population consisted of 752 SLE patients and 1107 healthy controls. All individual were of Spanish Caucasian origin. The TLR5 and TLR7 polymorphisms were genotyped using a PCR system with pre-developed TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. Results No statistically significant differences were observed when the allele and genotype distribution of TLR5 rs5744168 and TLR7 rs179008 polymorphisms wets compared between SLE patients and healthy controls. A significant increase frequency in the CC genotype of the TLR5 rs5744168 polymorphism among SLE patients without nephritis was found (93% vs. 87% in SLE patients with nephritis, p=0.03, OR=2.11 95%CI 0.93-3.51). However, this difference did not reach statistical significance in the allele frequencies (p=0.08). Conclusion These results suggest that the tested variations of TLR5 and TLR7 genes do not confer a relevant role in the susceptibility or severity to SLE in the Spanish population.