MICA 5.1 allele is a susceptibility marker for psoriasis in the Korean population

In order to investigate the possibility that the MICA gene is involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, microsatellite polymorphism in the transmembrane region of MICA was studied in 138 Korean patients with psoriasis and compared with 126 healthy controls. The MICA 5.1 microsatellite allele, consisting of 5.1 repetitions of GCT/AGC, showed significantly higher frequencies in all patients and in patients with type I psoriasis than in the controls. HLA-A30-B13-Cw*0602-MICA 5.1 and A1-B37-Cw*0602-MICA 5.1 were found to be an extended haplotype associated with psoriasis. Our results suggest that the MICA 5.1 allele might be a genetic marker related to the early onset of psoriasis and play a secondary role to the HLA-Cw*0602 gene or an unknown causative gene closely linked to HLA-Cw*0602 in the genetic susceptibility to psoriasis.