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NLR is a cheap and readily available marker for the assessment of disease activity in RA.

Takayasu arteritis is a rare inflammatory disease of large arteries. The etiology of Takayasu arteritis remains poorly understood, but genetic contribution to the disease pathogenesis is supported by the genetic association with HLA-B*52. We genotyped ~200,000 genetic variants in two ethnically divergent Takayasu arteritis cohorts from Turkey and North America by using a custom-designed genotyping platform (Immunochip). Additional genetic variants and the classical HLA alleles were imputed and analyzed. We identified and confirmed two independent susceptibility loci within the HLA region (r(2) < 0.2): HLA-B/MICA (rs12524487, OR = 3.29, p = 5.57 × 10(-16)) and HLA-DQB1/HLA-DRB1 (rs113452171, OR = 2.34, p = 3.74 × 10(-9); and rs189754752, OR = 2.47, p = 4.22 × 10(-9)). In addition, we identified and confirmed a genetic association between Takayasu arteritis and the FCGR2A/FCGR3A locus on chromosome 1 (rs10919543, OR = 1.81, p = 5.89 × 10(-12)). The risk allele in this locus results in increased mRNA expression of FCGR2A. We also established the genetic association between IL12B and Takayasu arteritis (rs56167332, OR = 1.54, p = 2.18 × 10(-8)).

Highlights Coronovirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection induces cytokine storm causing mortality. Interleukin (IL)-18 is one of the key cytokines in the macrophage activation syndrome. IL-18 elevated in COVID-19 patients and might be a therapeutic target.

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