Genetic association of Fc receptor-like 3 polymorphisms with susceptibility to primary biliary cirrhosis: Ethnic comparative study in Japanese and Italian patients

A functional variant in the Fc receptor-like 3 (FCRL3) gene is associated with the susceptibility to several autoimmune diseases. In this study, we examined whether the FCRL3 is associated with susceptibility to primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) by comparing the two different ethnic groups, Japanese and Italians. We enrolled 232 patients with PBC and 230 controls in Japanese, and 216 PBC and 180 controls in Italians. Minor allele frequency of fcrl3-3 (-169 T>C) in the patients with PBC and controls was 0.20 and 0.09 in Japanese and 0.24 and 0.21 in Italians, respectively. We found a significant association of fcrl3-3 with PBC only in Japanese (P = 9.64 × 10^-7). These findings support the presence of common FCRL3-related pathological pathways in several autoimmune diseases, especially in Asians.