Association of the HLA-G rs66554220 variant with non-segmental vitiligo and its clinical features in Northwestern Mexico population

Introduction:
The HLA-G molecule functions as a critical immunomodulatory checkpoint, its expression is significantly associated with pathological processes that may be responsible in part for autoimmune conditions such as non-segmental vitiligo (NS-V), characterized by chronic skin depigmentation. In this sense, the rs66554220 (14 bp ID) variant located in the 3’UTR, implicated in the regulation of HLA-G production, is associated with autoimmune diseases.

Aim:
To evaluate the role of the HLA-G rs66554220 variant in NS-V and its clinical features in Northwestern Mexicans.

Material and methods:
We genotyped the rs66554220 variant by SSP-PCR in 197 NS-V patients and 198 age-sex matched non-related healthy individuals (HI).

Results:
Del allele and genotype Del/Ins were the most prevalent in both study groups (NS-V/HI = 56%/55% and 46.70%/46.46%, respectively). Despite lacking association between the variant and NS-V, we found an association of the Ins allele in different inheritance models with familial clustering, onset of the illness, universal clinical subtype and Koebner’s phenomenon.

Conclusions:
The rs66554220 (14 bp ID) variant is not a risk factor for NS-V in the Mexican population studied. To our knowledge, this is the first report about the topic in the Mexican population and worldwide that includes clinical features related with this HLA-G genetic variant.