HLA-Cw6 allele, NFkB1 and NFkBIA polymorphisms play no role in predicting response to etanercept in psoriatic patients.

OBJECTIVE: This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the role of NFKB1-94 insertion/deletion ATTG (rs28362491) and NFkBIA 2758 A>G (rs696) polymorphisms and HLA-Cw6 allele in predicting the response to etanercept, a TNF-α blocker, in a population of psoriatic patients naive to biologics.

METHODS: Genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood in a series of 96 psoriatic patients who received etanercept for at least 3 months. Patients were classified as responders if they achieved a Psoriasis Area and Severity Index improvement of at least 75% after 12 weeks of etanercept treatment and as nonresponders if Psoriasis Area and Severity Index improvement was less than 75%. Genotyping was performed using the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method.

RESULTS: We did not find any significant role of NFKB1-94 insertion/deletion ATTG (rs28362491) and NFkBIA 2758 A>G (rs696) polymorphisms and the HLA-Cw6 allele in predicting the response to etanercept.

CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that NFKB1 and NFkBIA polymorphisms are not related to the response to etanercept. They also indicate that the therapeutic response to etanercept is not influenced by the presence of the HLA-Cw6 allele, in contrast with previous evidence on ustekinumab, suggesting that such an association is related more to drug than to disease characteristics.