Associations between human leukocyte antigen C locus polymorphism and psoriatic arthritis in populations of European and Middle Eastern descent: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Gene-disease association between human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-C locus polymorphism and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the relationship between HLA-C locus polymorphism and PsA in populations of European and Middle Eastern descent. SEARCH METHODS: PubMed, PMC, Elsevier and Google Scholar databases from 1980 to January 2020. The search was limited to articles in English. SELECTION CRITERIA: Case-control studies (with unrelated participants) that had allele/genotype data on the association between HLA-C locus polymorphism and PsA susceptibility. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two investigators searched independently in searching the literature. Disagreements were resolved by discussion and consultation with a third researcher. The Q-Genie tool was used to assess the quality of articles. RESULTS: Twenty-five studies met the inclusion criteria. At the allelic level, three alleles were associated with an increased risk of PsA and five were associated with a reduced risk. At the phenotypic level, four alleles were associated with increased risk of PsA and three were associated with a reduced risk. At both the allelic and phenotypic levels, the results revealed that HLA-C*04 played a protective role in PsA (The pooled odds ratio [OR] is 0.66 for allelic level and 0.63 for phenotypic level), while HLA-C*02, *06 and *12 increased the risk of suffering from PsA (The pooled ORs of C*02, *06 and *12 are 2.21, 2.63 and 1.49 for allelic level, and 1.79, 2.96 and 2.25 for phenotypic level, respectively). CONCLUSION: The pooled results showed a significant association between PsA and the HLA-C gene in populations of European and Middle Eastern descent. At both the allelic and phenotypic levels, the HLA-C*02, *06 and *12 may contribute to susceptibility to PsA, while HLA-C*04 may confer a protective role against PsA. REGISTRATION: Not registered. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.