Single nucleotide polymorphisms of HSP90AA1 gene influence response of SLE patients to glucocorticoids treatment

Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is an important glucocorticoid receptor (GR) chaperone protein, and is supposed to be the key factor in regulating glucocorticoids (GCs) effects. The aim of the present study was to explore whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within HSP90AA1 gene affect the response of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients to GCs treatment. Two hundred and forty-five SLE patients were treated with GCs (prednisone) for 12 weeks. SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) was used to assess the response of SLE patients to GCs treatment, and patients were classified into sensitive group and insensitive group. HapMap database and Haploview software were used to select tag SNPs. Tag SNPs were genotyped by using multiplex SNaPshot method. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to discriminate the impact of SNPs of HSP90AA1 gene on the response of SLE patients to GCs treatment. Two hundred and thirty three SLE patients finished the 12-week follow-up. Of these patients, 128 patients were included in sensitive group, and 105 patients were included in insensitive group. Seven tag SNPs were selected within HSP90AA1 gene. We detected significant associations for rs7160651 (dominant model: crude OR 0.514, 95 % CI 0.297–0.890, P = 0.018; adjusted OR 0.518, 95 % CI 0.293–0.916, P = 0.024), rs10873531 (dominant model: crude OR 0.516, 95 % CI 0.305–0.876, P = 0.014; adjusted OR 0.522, 95 % CI 0.304–0.898, P = 0.019) and rs2298877 (dominant model: crude OR 0.543, 95 % CI 0.317–0.928, P = 0.026, adjusted OR 0.558, 95 % CI 0.323–0.967, P = 0.037) polymorphisms, but not for other polymorphisms ( P > 0.05). The present study demonstrates that HSP90AA1 gene SNPs may affect the response of SLE patients to GCs treatment.