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Genome-wide association study identifies TNFSF13 as a susceptibility gene for IgA in a South Chinese population in smokers

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Abstract

IgA is an important factor in our immune system. There are many diseases associated with it, such as IgA nephropathy, IgA deficiency, and so on. In order to describe the relationship between the genes and the IgA level, we performed a genome-wide association study of serum IgA with 1,999 healthy Chinese men in the first stage and replicated on an independent Chinese sample with 1,496 subjects in the second stage. Association between each SNP with IgA was estimated by multivariate linear regression analysis conditioned on age and smoke. Haplotype analysis for the block around the top SNP was performed. In the first stage, one genomic locus was identified to be significantly associated with IgA. The loci is TNFSF13 (17p13.1; rs3803800; P = 6.26 × 10−8). In smoke-specific analysis, rs3803800 was approximately significantly associated with IgA levels in smokers (P = 3.96 × 10−7), while no association was observed in nonsmokers (P = 2.28 × 10−1). In addition, we performed the haplotype analysis on chromosome 17 with the SNPs around rs3803800. Although the total P value for the haplotype did not acquire significant difference, three haplotypes (TGAG, CACG, and CACA) reached significant (P < 0.05). In conclusion, TNFSF13 could be a susceptible gene which was discovered having relationship with serum IgA level, and smoke might be a factor infecting the IgA level.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgment

This study was partially supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81060213, 81060234, 30945204, 30360124, 30260110), Key Program and University Talents Highland Innovation Team of Guangxi (2012012D003, GJR201147-09), Chairman Science and Technology Fund and Tackle Program of Guangxi (1116-03, GKG1298003-07-01), Guangxi Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (2012GXNSFFA060009), Guangxi Provincial Department of Finance and Education (2009GJCJ150), intramural funding from Fudan-VARI Center for genetic Epidemiology and intramural funding from Fudan University Institute of Urology, Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2011GXNSFB018100).The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Genomic and Personalized Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, No. 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 530021, China

    Chen Yang, Wang Jie, Yang Yanlong, Guo Xuefeng, Tan Aihua, Gao Yong, Lu Zheng, Zhang Youjie, Zhang Haiying, Qin Xue, Qin Min, Mo Linjian, Yang xiaobo, Hu Yanling & Mo Zengnan

  2. Medical Scientific Research Centre, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

    Guo Xuefeng

  3. Institute of Urology and Nephrology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

    Gao Yong, Lu Zheng, Zhang Youjie, Qin Min, Mo Linjian & Mo Zengnan

  4. Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

    Zhang Haiying & Yang xiaobo

  5. Department of Clinical Laboratory, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

    Qin Xue

  6. Medical Scientific Research Centre, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

    Hu Yanling

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  1. Chen Yang
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Correspondence to Hu Yanling or Mo Zengnan.

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Chen Yang, Wang Jie, and Yang Yanlong contributed equally to this work.

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Supplementary Material Fig. 1

The Q-Q plot of genome-wide association analyses for serum IgA level (DOC 541 kb)

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Yang, C., Jie, W., Yanlong, Y. et al. Genome-wide association study identifies TNFSF13 as a susceptibility gene for IgA in a South Chinese population in smokers. Immunogenetics 64, 747–753 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-012-0636-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-012-0636-y

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