HLA-C Genotyping Reveals Haplotype C07 as a Potential Biomarker of Late Psoriasis Onset in Moroccan Patients

• Published in: Current Issues in Molecular Biology Vol. 45; no. 2; pp. 1012 - 1023
• Main Authors: Benlabsir, Chaimaa, Riyad, Myriam, Saik, Imane El Idrissi, Ettayebi, Hanaa, Aazzane, Oussama, Nassar, Kawtar, Zaher, Soukaina, Bennani, Siham, Admou, Brahim, Housbane, Samy, Sadki, Khalid, Chiheb, Soumiya, Fellah, Hassan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25.01.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Development and progression; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Histocompatibility antigens; HLA histocompatibility antigens; HLA-C allele; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; methotrexate; Psoriasis; Morocco; methotrexate; psoriasis; HLA-C allele
• ISSN: 1467-3045; 1467-3037; 1467-3045
• DOI: 10.3390/cimb45020066

Psoriasis still has an unknown etiology. Genetic predisposition shows the association between HLA-Cw6 allele and psoriasis. Although biotherapies have been proven effective in psoriasis treatment, methotrexate (MTX) is still used as a first-line systemic therapy due to its efficacy/affordability, but the differential response to MTX is mostly related to interindividual genetic variability and remains an issue. Our study aimed to analyze HLA-C allele frequencies in a sample of Moroccan psoriatic patients and assess the therapeutic response to MTX. Whole blood of 54 Moroccan psoriatic patients was collected and DNA was extracted. Patients’ HLA-C locus was genotyped by PCR-SSO. Results were analyzed with Luminex xMAP Technology and Match-it DNA Evolution 3.4. HLA-C typing results of 77 sex- and age-matched unrelated non-psoriatic healthy subjects were included. We observed no difference in the allelic distribution of HLA-C between patients and healthy controls, suggesting that none of the HLA-C alleles were significantly associated with psoriasis. Moreover, the HLA-C*07 allele was associated with a late age at disease onset (>30 years old) (p = 0.007). No statistically significant association was found between HLA-C allele expression and response to MTX, despite a higher frequency of HLA-C*06 in responders compared to non-responders. Thus, HLA-C*07 could be a biomarker of late psoriasis onset in the Moroccan population.