TRAF1-C5as risk locus for increased hepatic fibrosis in chronic liver diseases

Background and Aim: Recently a common intergenic variant at the TRAF1-C5 locus on chromosome 9 has been associated with susceptibility to and severity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), possibly by influencing the structure, function or expression levels of TNF receptor-associated factor 1 (TRAF1) and/or complement factor C5 (Plenge et al. NEJM 2007; Kurreeman et al. PLoS Med 2007). Of note, we have also identified C5 as a risk factor for advanced fibrosis in a polygenic mouse model of liver fibrosis and a single cohort of patients with chronic hepatitis C (Hillebrandt et al. Nat Genet 2005). Thus, we hypothesized th…