Abstract
Multiple microRNAs (miRs) are associated with systemic autoimmune disease susceptibility/phenotype, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). With this work, we aimed to unravel the association of the miR-27a gene (MIR27A) rs11671784G/A variant with SLE risk/severity. One-hundred sixty-three adult patients with SLE and matched controls were included. A TaqMan allelic discrimination assay was applied for MIR27A genotyping. Logistic regression models were run to test the association with SLE susceptibility/risk. Genotyping of 326 participants revealed that the heterozygote form was the most common genotype among the study cohort, accounting for 72% of the population (n = 234), while A/A and G/G represented 15% (n = 49) and 13% (n = 43), respectively. Similarly, the most prevalent genotype among cases was the A/G genotype, which was present in approximately 93.3% of cases (n = 152). In contrast, only eight and three patients had A/A and G/G genotypes, respectively. The MIR27A rs11671784 variant conferred protection against the development of SLE in several genetic models, including heterozygous (G/A vs. A/A; OR = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.05-0.23), dominant (G/A + G/G vs. AA; OR = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.07-0.34), and overdominant (G/A vs. A/A + G/G; OR = 0.07, 95% CI = 0.04-0.14) models. However, the G/G genotype was associated with increased SLE risk in the recessive model (G/G vs. A/A+ G/G; OR = 17.34, 95% CI = 5.24-57.38). Furthermore, the variant showed significant associations with musculoskeletal and mucocutaneous manifestations in the patient cohort (p = 0.035 and 0.009, respectively) and platelet and white blood cell counts (p = 0.034 and 0.049, respectively). In conclusion, the MIR27A rs11671784 variant showed a potentially significant association with SLE susceptibility/risk in the studied population. Larger-scale studies on multiethnic populations are recommended to verify the results.