Meta-Analysis of Genome-Wide Studies of Psoriasis Susceptibility Reveals Linkage to Chromosomes 6p21 and 4q28–q31 in Caucasian and Chinese Hans Population

Ten genome-wide scans have been conducted over the past few years in the search for psoriasis susceptibility genes, but only one potential susceptibility region has been consistently replicated. A meta-analysis using the genome-search meta-analysis method was undertaken combining the results of six of these psoriasis genome-wide studies. The results of this analysis revealed linkage to the major histocompatibility complex on chromosome 6p21 that includes the PSORS1 locus. In addition, linkage was also recorded to a region on chromosome 4q28–q31 previously identified only in a Chinese Hans population. Both these regions were statistically significant even after correction for multiple testing. A possible reason for the erratic replication of findings could be the large effect of the PSORS1 locus (6p21) masking the effect of other loci involved in psoriasis. To overcome this problem, we suggest that future studies condition on the effect of the PSORS1 locus.