The Role of CD14 and CTLA4 Gene Polymorphisms in Risk of Celiac Disease among Patients of Iranian Ethnicity

Celiac disease (CD) is developed via autoimmune reactions against gluten which is mainly found in grains. Although HLA DQB1 locus is the most important genetic susceptibility to CD, some other variants such as A49G and G1359T of CTLA4 and CD14 genes respectively have been proposed as CD predisposing genetic factors in many various studies. We aimed to assess possible roles of A49G and G1359T polymorphisms in CD susceptibility in the Iranian population. In this case-control, one hundred CD patients and 100 healthy matched controls with average age of 30-33 years were selected. They were genotyped for both A49G and G1359T polymorphisms using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). There was no association between genotypes of A49G variant of CTLA4 and risk of CD (p<0.05). The G1359T polymorphism of CD14 gene also did not show any significant association with risk of CD among the studied population. However, patients with CD14 T/T genotype were more classified in the severe form (Marsh III) of CD, showing border line significance (p<0.05). No association was identified between the combination of 1359T and A49G alleles with risk of CD. These lacks of association could be due to small sample size and considering further studies in various populations and ethnicities seems to be required.