%0 Journal Article %A Henk A. Martens %A Sacha Gross %A Gerrit van der Steege %A Elisabeth Brouwer %A Jo H.M. Berden %A Ruud de Sevaux %A Ronald H.W.M. Derksen %A Alexandre E. Voskuyl %A Stefan P. Berger %A Gerjan J. Navis %A Cees G.M. Kallenberg %A Marc Bijl %T Lack of Association of C-C Chemokine Receptor 5 Δ32 Deletion Status with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Lupus Nephritis, and Disease Severity %D 2010 %R 10.3899/jrheum.091468 %J The Journal of Rheumatology %P jrheum.091468 %X Objective C-C chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) plays an important role in inflammation. A 32 base-pair (∆32) deletion in the CCR5 gene leads to a nonfunctional receptor. This deletion has been reported to have a protective effect on the development and progression of several autoimmune diseases. We investigated whether the ∆32 deletion is associated with disease susceptibility in a population of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and lupus nephritis (LN); and whether it is associated with disease severity. Methods DNA samples from 405 RA patients, 97 SLE patients, 113 LN patients, and 431 healthy controls were genotyped for the CCR5 ∆32 deletion. Differences in genotype frequencies were tested between patients and controls. Association of genotypes with disease severity was analyzed. Results Genotype frequencies of each group were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The genotype frequencies of patients did not differ significantly from controls (CCR5/∆32, ∆32/∆32: RA 18.3% and 1.2%, respectively; SLE 17.5% and 2.1%; LN 13.3% and 1.8%; controls 20.0% and 2.8%). However, there was a trend for lower ∆32 deletion allele frequency in LN patients compared to controls (p = 0.08). There was no significant association between the CCR5 status and disease severity in RA, SLE, or LN. Conclusion Although an association with LN cannot be excluded, the CCR5 ∆32 deletion does not seem to be a disease susceptibility genotype for RA, SLE, or LN. No significant effect of the ∆32 deletion on disease severity was demonstrated. %U https://www.jrheum.org/content/jrheum/early/2010/07/29/jrheum.091468.full.pdf