A130: Is the CCR5‐delta32 Mutation Protective Against Systemic‐Onset Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis?
The CCR5 protein is a chemokine receptor, and is known to be expressed on T cells, macrophages, dendritic and microglia cells. It is believed that different prevalence of HLA and CCR5‐ delta32—a 32 base pair deletion in the coding region—in various ethnic groups is associated with the severity and prevalence of chemokine‐mediated autoimmune diseases, systemic‐onset Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (soJIA) being among them (Del Rincon et al., 2003). Since the end of the last century the protective role of the CCR5‐delta32 mutation against JIA is discussed (Hinks et al., 2010), though it seems the role of this mutation is less simple than was hitherto thought. The purposes of the study was to compare the prevalence of the CCR5‐delta32 mutation in children with and without soJIA, to assess the association of this mutation with the severity of the disease and thus to evaluate its protective role.