TY - JOUR T1 - Multiplex Screening of 22 Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in 7 Toll-like Receptors: An Association Study in Rheumatoid Arthritis JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 905 LP - 910 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.090775 VL - 37 IS - 5 AU - CHRISTIAN ENEVOLD AU - TIMOTHY R.D. RADSTAKE AU - MARIEKE J.H. COENEN AU - JAAP FRANSEN AU - ERIK J.M. TOONEN AU - KLAUS BENDTZEN AU - PIET L.C.M. van RIEL Y1 - 2010/05/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/37/5/905.abstract N2 - Objective. Toll-like receptors (TLR) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of arthritis. We investigated the role of functional variants of TLR in the disease phenotype and severity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. All patients from a longterm observational inception cohort (n = 319) were genotyped for 22 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in TLR2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 using multiplex assays. Clinical characteristics including sex, age at disease onset, rheumatoid factor (RF), and shared epitope positivity and disease activity score and radiological progression were taken into account. Genotypes were analyzed for association with Disease Activity Scores (DAS28) and joint damage (Rau scores) at 3 and 6 years. Results. After Bonferroni correction, there was a moderate association between RF positivity and TLR8-rs5741883. No other TLR variant was significantly associated with any RA clinical characteristics. Conclusion. Using a large inception cohort and strict statistical evaluation, we could not identify an association between functional TLR variants and RA phenotype and disease severity. This suggests the functional TLR variants do not play a major role in RA phenotype and disease severity. ER -