SNP Analysis of Genes Implicated in T Cell Proliferation in Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

Previous studies on primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) have focused on the role of T lymphocytes as potential effectors of tissue injury. We hypothesized that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes involved in lymphocyte proliferation would be responsible for uncontrolled expansion of T cells and autoreactivity. To address this, we genotyped DNA from 154 patients with PBC and 166 ethnically matched healthy controls for SNPs of five candidate genes (60G/A CTLA-4, 1858 C/T LYP, -IVS9 C/T foxp3, p1323 C/G ICOS and -9606 T/C CD25) using a TaqMan assay.