BLK and BANK1 variants and interactions are associated with susceptibility for primary sjögren’s syndrome and with some clinical features

Abstract BLK and BANK1 in primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS) have scarcely been evaluated and the results are inconclusive. The aim of our study was to determine whether single nucleotide variants (SNVs) located within BLK or BANK1 are associated with susceptibility, clinical and serological features, and smoking in pSS. BLK rs13277113A/G, BANK1 rs10516487G/A and rs3733197G/A were genotyped in 203 cases and 424 controls using a TaqMan® SNP genotyping assay. The BLK rs13277113A allele showed association with pSS under the allelic (OR 1.35, p= 0.02), and recessive (OR 1.83, p=0.003) model, while, BANK1 rs3733197G/A showed association under the dominant model (OR 2.90, p=0.043). Interactions between BANK1 and BLK genotypes also showed association (OR 2.36, p