A meta-analysis of the association of IRF5 polymorphism with systemic lupus erythematosus

To more precisely estimate the association between interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) polymorphisms and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) risk, we surveyed studies on the association of IRF5 rs2204640, rs10954213, rs729302 or rs2280714 with SLE using PubMed, Embase and Web of Science up to February 2011. Two investigators independently assessed the data quality and extracted the data. A total of 17 comparisons from ten relevant studies involving 6403 patients and 7475 controls were included to analyse the association between IRF5 rs2004640 and SLE risk (odds ratio, OR = 1.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.34-1.49, P = 0.000). As for rs10954213, there were ten comparisons from six relevant studies involving 3461 patients and 3692 controls were included to analyse the association between IRF5 rs10954213 and SLE risk (OR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.08-1.39, P = 0.002). And this meta-analysis also showed a significant association of rs729302 (OR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.74-0.83, P = 0.000), rs2280714 (OR = 0.90, 95% CI 0.83-0.98, P = 0.021) with SLE. In a subgroup analysis by ethnicity, significantly increased SLE risk was associated with IRF5 rs2004640 T allele in populations of European, Asian and Latin American origin, and the rs10954213 A allele is significantly associated with SLE in European origin but not in Asian origin. This meta-analysis suggested that IRF5 gene polymorphism was associated with SLE in multiple ethnic populations.