Copy number variations in IL22 gene are associated with Psoriasis vulgaris

Abstract

Psoriasis vulgaris (PsV) is a frequent, chronically relapsing, immune-mediated systemic disease with characteristic skin changes. IL22 is a cytokine of IL10 family, with significant proliferative effect on different cell lines. Copy number variations (CNV) have been discovered to have phenotypic consequences and are associated with various types of diseases. In the work presented here we analyzed the copy number variations in IL22 gene of exon1 and exon5. Our results showed that the IL22 gene exon1 was significantly associated with psoriasis severity (P<0.0001). However, the association between IL22 gene exon5 copy numbers and psoriasis was not detected.