@article {Seddighzadehjrheum.111284, author = {Maria Seddighzadeh and Antonio Gonzalez and Bo Ding and Aida Ferreiro-Iglesias and Juan J. Gomez-Reino and Rheumatoid Arthritis Network and Coordinated Project and Lars Klareskog and Lars Alfredsson and Kyri Dunussi-Joannopoulos and James D. Clark and Leonid Padyukov}, title = {Variants Within STAT Genes Reveal Association with Anticitrullinated Protein Antibody-negative Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2 European Populations}, elocation-id = {jrheum.111284}, year = {2012}, doi = {10.3899/jrheum.111284}, publisher = {The Journal of Rheumatology}, abstract = {Objective STAT3 and 4 are, among other factors, critical for the interleukin 12 (IL-12)-mediated Th1 response, for transfer of IL-23 signals, and for survival and expansion of Th17 cells. We investigated the association of STAT3 and STAT4 polymorphisms with serologically distinct subgroups of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods A total of 41 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) within STAT3 and STAT1-STAT4 loci were investigated in a Swedish cohort of 2043 RA cases and 1115 controls. Nine of the associated SNP were tested in a Spanish cohort of 1223 RA cases and 1090 controls. Results Fourteen SNP in the STAT3 and STAT1-STAT4 loci were associated with anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)-negative RA in the Swedish cohort. Three of the SNP in STAT4 and 2 SNP in STAT3 remained associated with ACPA-negative RA after considering the Spanish results. In addition, rs7574865 and rs10181656, in STAT4, were associated with ACPA-positive RA in the Swedish study. One of these SNP, rs7574865, showed a similar pattern of the association in serologically distinct subgroups of RA in a metaanalysis of all 7 published studies. Conclusion Our findings suggest that variants in STAT genes may contribute differentially to susceptibility to RA in seropositive and in seronegative patients.}, issn = {0315-162X}, URL = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2012/06/25/jrheum.111284}, eprint = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2012/06/25/jrheum.111284.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of Rheumatology} }