Variation in the ICAM1-ICAM4-ICAM5 locus is associated with systemic lupus erythematosus susceptibility in multiple ancestries

Kim K et al. – The findings are the first to suggest that an intracellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)–integrin–mediated pathway contributes to susceptibility to Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods

• The authors examined several markers in the ICAM1–ICAM4–ICAM5 locus on chromosome 19p13 and the single ITGAM polymorphism (rs1143679) using a large–scale case–control study of 17 481 unrelated participants from four ancestry populations.
• The single–marker association and gene–gene interaction were analysed for each ancestry, and a meta–analysis across the four ancestries was performed.

Results

• The A–allele of ICAM1–ICAM4–ICAM5 rs3093030, associated with elevated plasma levels of soluble ICAM1, and the A–allele of ITGAM rs1143679 showed the strongest association with increased SLE susceptibility in each of the ancestry populations and the trans–ancestry meta–analysis (ORmeta=1.16, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.22; p=4.88×10^–10 and ORmeta=1.67, 95% CI 1.55 to 1.79; p=3.32×10^–46, respectively).
• The effect of the ICAM single–nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was independent of the effect of the ITGAM SNP rs1143679, and carriers of both ICAM rs3093030–AA and ITGAM rs1143679–AA had an OR of 4.08 compared with those with no risk allele in either SNP (95% CI 2.09 to 7.98; p=3.91×10^–5).

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