Novel association of the CD226 (DNAM-1) Gly307Ser polymorphism in Wegener's granulomatosis and confirmation for multiple sclerosis in German patients

Recently, there has been increasing evidence that a non-synonymous exchange (Gly307Ser) in the gene for CD226 is linked to several autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis ( MS), rheumatoid arthritis and Grave's disease. Here we present evidence that this polymorphism also predisposes to Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), an autoimmune condition belonging to the group of ANCA (antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody)-associated vasculitides. We found a significant association of the 307Ser allele in separate panels of 520 Northern German ( P = 0.016, odds ratio (OR) = 1.20) and 122 Southern German (P = 0.020, OR = 1.37) WG cases compared with 1226 healthy controls. The importance of this single-nucleotide polymorphism in the etiopathology of ANCA-associated vasculitides is supported by similar effect sizes that we found in British WG cases (n = 105) and German patients with Churg-Strauss syndrome ( n 119), which, however, miss significance level because of the relatively small cohorts available for these rare disorders. Finally, we confirm the association with MS in a cohort of 422 German patients ( P = 0.011, OR = 1.23). Genes and Immunity ( 2009) 10, 591-595; doi:10.1038/gene.2009.44; published online 18 June 2009