Genetic association of IL2RA, IL17RA, IL23R, and IL31RA single nucleotide polymorphisms with alopecia areata

Mansour A Alghamdi; Laith N Al-Eitan; Hanan A Aljamal; Ayed A Shati; Mohammed A Alshehri

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2022.103460

Genetic association of IL2RA, IL17RA, IL23R, and IL31RA single nucleotide polymorphisms with alopecia areata

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2022 Nov;29(11):103460. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2022.103460. Epub 2022 Sep 27.

Authors

Mansour A Alghamdi^{1

2}, Laith N Al-Eitan³, Hanan A Aljamal³, Ayed A Shati⁴, Mohammed A Alshehri⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia.
² Genomics and Personalized Medicine Unit, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan.
⁴ Department of Child Health, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The signalling of cytokine receptors plays a crucial role in regulating tolerance and immunity. Impaired immunological processes result in autoimmune inflammation that target the hair follicles, causing many hair disorders, mainly alopecia areata (AA). Therefore, polymorphisms in cytokine receptor genes are suggested to have a significant impact on the pathogenesis of AA, a disease with a multifactorial basis and uncertain etiology. In the present study, 152 AA patients of the Jordanian population were investigated for their genetic susceptibility to develop AA compared to 150 control subjects. Genomic DNA extraction and genotyping had conducted for IL17RA (rs879575, rs2229151, and rs4819554), IL2RA (rs3118470), IL23R (rs10889677), and IL31RA (rs161704) using the Sequenom MassARRAY® system. The allele frequency of IL17RA rs879575 is significantly higher in patients, while no statistical differences were found for IL2RA, IL23R, and IL31RA SNPs. Also, the recessive model of IL31RA rs161704 showing that AA genotype is significantly associated with AA development. To date, there is no published data regarding the association between AA and the selected genetic variants in our population. However, this study's findings assert that SNPs of IL17RA and IL31RA are linked to AA susceptibility in Jordanian patients.

Keywords: AA, Alopecia Areata; Alopecia areata; Autoimmunity; Genetic predisposition; Hair disorders; IL17RA, Interleukin 17 receptor subunit alpha; IL23R, Interleukin 23 receptor; IL2RA, Interleukin 2 receptor subunit alpha; IL31RA, Interleukin 31 receptor subunit alpha; Multifactorial disease; SNP, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism.