Association of HSP90B1 genetic polymorphisms with efficacy of glucocorticoids and improvement of HRQoL in systemic lupus erythematosus patients from Anhui Province.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between HSP90B1 gene polymorphisms and the efficacy of glucocorticoids (GCs) and the improvement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Anhui patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Method: A total of 305 patients with SLE were recruited to the study. These patients were treated with GCs for 12 weeks and classified into two groups (sensitivity and insensitivity) according to the response to GCs measured by the scores on SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI). The HRQoL of SLE patients were evaluated by 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) at baseline and 12 weeks respectively. HapMap database and Haploview software were used to select HSP90B1 gene tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Benjamini & Hochberg (BH) method based on false discovery rate (FDR) was used for multiple testing correction. Results: A total of 291 patients were included in final data analysis with 14 patients excluded due to loss to follow-up. Among these patients, 160 patients were sensitive to GCs and 131 patients were insensitive to GCs. Twelve tag SNPs of HSP90B1 gene were selected. The rs12426382 polymorphism was associated with the efficacy of GCs (dominant model: crude OR =0.514, 95% CI =0.321-0.824, P =0.006; adjusted OR =0.513, 95% CI =0.317-0.831, P =0.007). After BH correction, there was no association between rs12426382 polymorphism and efficacy of GCs ( PBH =0.084). In haplotype analysis, the haplotype CCCGAACATCCC ( OR =2.273, 95% CI =1.248-4.139, P =0.006) and CTGGGACGTTC ( OR =0.436, 95% CI =0.208-0.916, P =0.025) showed significant associations with the efficacy of GCs. After corrected by BH method, CCCGAACATCCC was still associated with the efficacy of GCs ( PBH =0.048). The rs3794241, rs1165681, rs2722188, rs3794240 and rs10861147 polymorphisms were associated with the improvement of HRQoL among SLE patients ( P < 0.05). But no association existed after the correction of BH method ( P > 0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated that HSP90B1 genetic polymorphisms might be associated with the efficacy of GCs, but not associated with the improvement of HRQoL in Anhui population with SLE.