A BTNL2 gene variant confers to sarcoidosis susceptibility by an increased risk towards the chronic form of the disease

Introduction: Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory granulomatous disorder that primarily affects lungs and lymph nodes. Recently, a significant association of sarcoidosis with a frequent SNP in the BTNL2 gene, rs2076530, was described in a German sarcoidosis sample. BTNL2 is a member of the immunoglobulin gene family and is related to CD80 and CD86 co-stimulatory receptors, although its exact function is unknown. No replication of the BTNL2 rs2076530 susceptibility to sarcoidosis has yet been done in an independent German case-control study. We therefore performed a case-control association study including 210 patient…