Lack of association between STAT4 gene polymorphism and biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis

To investigate the potential implication of the STAT4 gene polymorphism rs7574865 in the predisposition to or the clinical expression of giant cell arteritis (GCA).

A total of 212 patients diagnosed with biopsy-proven GCA were studied. DNA from patients and controls matched by age, sex, and ethnicity was obtained from peripheral blood. Samples were genotyped for STAT4 rs7574865 polymorphism.

No statistically significant differences in the allele frequencies for the STAT4 rs7574865 polymorphism were observed between patients and controls. Although we observed an increased frequency of the T/T genotype in GCA patients (6.0%) compared to healthy controls (3.9%), this difference did not achieve statistical significance (OR 1.57, 95% CI 0.72-3.41). No statistically significant differences in allele or genotype frequencies were observed when patients were stratified according to the presence of typical disease features such as polymyalgia rheumatica, severe ischemic manifestations, and visual ischemic complications in the setting of this vasculitis.

Our results do not support a major role of the STAT4 rs7574865 gene polymorphism in susceptibility to or clinical manifestations of GCA.