Genome-wide pathway analysis identifies VEGF pathway association with oral ulceration in systemic lupus erythematosus

Background Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a genetically complex rheumatic disease characterized by heterogeneous clinical manifestations of unknown etiology. Recent studies have suggested the existence of a genetic basis for SLE heterogeneity. The objective of the present study was to identify new genetic variation associated with the clinically relevant phenotypes in SLE. Methods A two-stage pathway-based approach was used to identify the genetic variation associated with the main clinical phenotypes in SLE. In the discovery stage, 482 SLE patients were genotyped using Illumina Human Q... Mehr ...