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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

An Adoptive Transfer Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Mice
Published on: June 6, 2025
Association of the CD28/CTLA4/ICOS polymorphisms with susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis
Young Ock Kim1, Hak Jae Kim, Su Kang Kim
1Ginseng and Medicinal Plants Research Institute Rural Development Administration, Chungbuk, Korea.
Background:
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is currently thought to be an immune-mediated disease where the host's genes and environmental factors interact. Some of the immuno-regulatory genes that are responsible for an individual's susceptibility to RA have been identified. The co-stimulatory receptor gene cluster on chromosome 2q33 encodes for both the positive T-cell regulators CD28 molecule (CD28) and inducible T-cell co-stimulator (ICOS), and the negative regulator cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA4). The CTLA4 gene has been implicated in several immune-mediated diseases, but it is not known whether RA is associated with any of these genes.
Methods:
We conducted single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping with direct sequencing and restriction fragment length polymorphism for 308 Korean patients with RA and 412 healthy control subjects. For the case-control analysis, SNPStats, SNPAnalyzer and Helixtree programs were used.
Results:
Although none of the polymorphisms in CTLA4 showed a significant association with RA, CD28 and ICOS showed a significant association with RA [rs2140148 in CD28, p = 0.022, odds ratio (OR) = 1.60, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07-2.40 in the dominant model, rs6726035 in ICOS, p = 0.032, OR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.02-1.60 in the codominant model].
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that CD28 and ICOS genes may be associated with a risk of RA in Koreans.
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