A polymorphism in the gene encoding the Fc IIIA receptor is a possible genetic marker to predict the primary response to infliximab in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis

The prediction of treatment outcome of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may avoid wasting time and cost of treatment, and allow better targeting of aggressive treatment. Recently, an amino acid-changing polymorphism in the gene encoding the Fcγ IIIA receptor (FcγRIIIA), valine (V)/phenylalanine (F) (rs396991), was found to be associated with increased likelihood of response to tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α inhibitors in the treatment of RA.1 The aim of the present study was to determine whether this FcγRIIIA V/F polymorphism is associated with treatment outcome of infliximab (the first TNF-α inhibitor approved in Japan) in Japanese patients with RA. The study was approved by the Tokyo Women’s Medical University Genome Ethics Committee. The …