Significant associations between the CCL21 rs2812378G>A polymorphism and RA risk were observed in the co-dominant model, dominant model and heterozygous model (A vs G: OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.03-1.14, p < 0.01, I <sup>2</sup> = 0.0%; AA + AG vs GG: OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.05-1.28, p < 0.01, I <sup>2</sup> = 0.0%; AG vs GG: OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.08-1.30, p < 0.01, I <sup>2</sup> = 3.8%) in the total population, as well as in subgroup Caucasian population.
We genotyped these individuals for GPSM3 (rs204989, rs204991), CCL21 (rs2812378) and HLA gene region (rs6457620) polymorphisms, and found no significant differences in minor allele frequencies between the RA and disease-free cohorts.