Interleukin-12B (IL-12B) and Interleukin-23R (IL-23R) Gene Polymorphisms do not Confer Susceptibility to Psoriasis in a Southern European population: A Case-Control Study

Maria I. Zervou, George N. Goulielmos, Francesc Castro-Giner, Rena Chiotaki, Prodromos Sidiropoulos ,Sabine Krueger-Krasagakis

Genome-wide association studies of psoriasis identified interleukin (IL)-12B and IL-23R as significantly associated loci with psoriasis, thus emphasizing to the important role of these genes in the pathogenesis of this disease and have influenced the development of medications that specifically target these key immunological players. Here we report an association study of a homogeneous Greek cohort from the island of Crete, consisting of 100 patients with PS and 195 controls, which were genotyped for rs3212227 and rs6887695 SNPs of the IL-12B and the rs7530511 and rs11209026 SNPs of IL-23R genes, respectively, using Taqman assays. Neither IL12B nor IL23R SNPs showed any association with psoriasis in the population under study. Apart from the previously reported evidence for the role of IL-12B and IL-23R in various populations, our results demonstrate no association of these gene polymorphisms with psoriasis in the Cretan population, thus highlighting the importance of comparative studies in different populations to confirm the previously detected genetic associations.