On the basis of data from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and a validation study comprising a total of 3,328 subjects with atopic dermatitis and 14,992 controls in the Japanese population, we report here 8 new susceptibility loci: IL1RL1-IL18R1-IL18RAP (P(combined) = 8.36 × 10(-18)), the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region (P = 8.38 × 10(-20)), OR10A3-NLRP10 (P = 1.54 × 10(-22)), GLB1 (P = 2.77 × 10(-16)), CCDC80 (P = 1.56 × 10(-19)), CARD11 (P = 7.83 × 10(-9)), ZNF365 (P = 5.85 × 10(-20)) and CYP24A1-PFDN4 (P = 1.65 × 10(-8)).
Although the frequency of early gut colonization by S. aureus was not related to subsequent eczema development, the S. aureus strains that were found to colonize those infants who developed atopic eczema were less likely to carry the gene encoding the superantigen SElM (P = 0·008) and the gene for elastin-binding protein (P = 0·03), compared with strains that were isolated from infants who had not developed atopic eczema by 18 months of age.