TY - JOUR T1 - Response to: ‘<em>HLA-A* 31:01</em> is not associated with the development of methotrexate pneumonitis in the UK population: results from a genome wide association study’ by Bluett <em>et al</em> JF - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases JO - Ann Rheum Dis SP - e52 LP - e52 DO - 10.1136/annrheumdis-2017-211518 VL - 76 IS - 12 AU - Hiroshi Furukawa AU - Shomi Oka AU - Kota Shimada AU - Naoyuki Tsuchiya AU - Shigeto Tohma A2 - , Y1 - 2017/12/01 UR - http://ard.bmj.com/content/76/12/e52.abstract N2 - We appreciate the comments by Bluett et al1 on our report of an association of HLA-A*31:01 with methotrexate-induced interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).2 They have tried to reveal the genetic factors associated with methotrexate-induced ILD, but found no significant association except three suggestive loci in chromosome 1, 9 and 14. This study did not show the association of A*31:01 with methotrexate-induced ILD, though the p value of the analysis was still 0.21 in spite of the small sample size with 62 cases and 175 controls. The meta-analysis with our previous study2 or other forthcoming HLA association studies on methotrexate-induced ILD may reveal more conclusive results in the future.Genetic factors would be involved in the pathogenesis of methotrexate-induced ILD, because the susceptibility of methotrexate-induced ILD in Japanese patients with RA are thought to be higher than other ethnic groups or patients with other autoimmune diseases.3 4 However, there are few reports of genome-wide association study of drug-induced ILD.5 Since the prevalence of drug-induced ILD is low and the clinical conditions of the patients with drug-induced ILD are various,6 genetic analyses … ER -