Open AccessA genome-wide screen for variants influencing certolizumab pegol response in a moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis population
Author(s) -
Ian R. White,
Sarah E. Kleinstein,
Christophe Van Praet,
Chris Chamberlain,
Duncan McHale,
Jessica M. Maia,
Pingxing Xie,
David B. Goldstein,
Thomas Urban,
Patrick R. Shea
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0261165
Subject(s) - certolizumab pegol , medicine , single nucleotide polymorphism , genome wide association study , rheumatoid arthritis , population , psoriatic arthritis , arthritis , immunology , oncology , etanercept , genotype , genetics , biology , gene , environmental health
Certolizumab pegol (CZP) is a PEGylated Fc-free tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor antibody approved for use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn’s disease, psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis and psoriasis. In a clinical trial of patients with severe RA, CZP improved disease symptoms in approximately half of patients. However, variability in CZP efficacy remains a problem for clinicians, thus, the aim of this study was to identify genetic variants predictive of CZP response. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 302 RA patients treated with CZP in the REALISTIC trial to identify common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with treatment response. Whole-exome sequencing was also performed for 74 CZP extreme responders and non-responders within the same population, as well as 1546 population controls. No common SNPs or rare functional variants were significantly associated with CZP response, though a non-significant enrichment in the RA-implicated KCNK5 gene was observed. Two SNPs near spondin-1 and semaphorin-4G approached genome-wide significance. The results of the current study did not provide an unambiguous predictor of CZP response.