Hydrothermal stability and catalytic performance of desilicated highly siliceous zeolites ZSM-5

Highly siliceous zeolites, namely MFI type have attracted the great attention due to their higher hydrothermal stability, higher selectivity to organic compounds, and often better catalytic properties in comparison with Al-rich zeolites. The native zeolite (Si/Al = 164) and its desilicated analogues were deeply characterized with regard to their structural and textural properties by X-ray diffraction, low temperature adsorption of nitrogen and solid-state Al-27 MAS NMR. Their acidic properties were evaluated in quantitative IR studies. Finally, the catalytic performance of desilicated zeolites ZSM-5 was evaluated in the cracking of n-decane, 1,3,5-tri-iso-propylbenzene and vacuum gas oil. In this article, it is shown that high silica zeolites prepared by NaOH and NaOH&TBAOH leaching presented good hydrothermal stability with only slightly lower resistance when comparing to native steamed zeolite. The mesoporosity was preserved after the steaming treatment. The influence of the generated mesoporosity on the higher activity was evidenced in both 1,3,5-tri-isopropylbenzene and diesel oil cracking of steamed hierarchical zeolites. In spite of their lowered acidity, the mesopores system benefited the diffusion of the bulky molecule and finally provided higher activity of hierarchical zeolites. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.This work was financed by Grant No. 2015/18/E/ST4/00191 from the National Science Centre - Poland. F. Rey and J. Martinez-Triguero thank for the support of the Spanish Government-MINECO through "Severo Ochoa" (SEV 2012-0267), MAT2015-71842-P and CTQ2015-68951-C3-1-R.Tarach, KA.; Martínez-Triguero, J.; Rey Garcia, F.; Góra-Marek, K. (2016). Hydrothermal stability and catalytic performance of desilicated highly siliceous zeolites ZSM-5. Journal of Catalysis. 339:256-259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2016.04.023S25625933

Hierarchical zeolites TNU-9 and IM-5 as the catalysts for cracking processes

[EN] The 10-ring zeolites TNU-9 and IM-5 were obtained by a desilication and evaluated in series of acid-catalysed cracking reactions. n-Decane and 1,3,5-tri-iso-propylbenzene cracking were performed as model reactions, while vacuum gas oil, polypropylene and polyethylene were cracked into add-value lower molecular weight chemicals. The catalytic performance improvement of hierarchical zeolites was rationalized by deep acid sites characterization in situ FT-IR studies of pyridine, carbon monoxide and 2,6-di-tert-butylpyridine sorption. Further, operando FT-IR-GC studies supported by 2D COS (two-dimensional correlation) analysis provided insight into cracking and coking of catalysts during polypropylene and polyethylene decomposition. It was found that NaOH-derived catalysts ensure the most upsurged acidity, in terms of number and accessibility of the sites, and then with better performance. In VGO cracking the connected mesopores added post-synthesis increased yields to propylene and middle distillates and lowered coke production. A bigger share of iso-olefins was observed both in VGO and polyolefins cracking products.KGM acknowledges the Grant No 2021/43/B/ST4/00307 form National Science Center, Poland. KAT acknowledges the Grant No 2020/37/B/ST4/01215 form National Science Center, Poland. For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC-BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission. JMT acknowledges the Grant MFA/2022/016 from Advanced Materials program supported by MCIN with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17. I1) and by Generalitat Valenciana. The study was carried out using research infrastructure purchased with the funds of the European Union in the framework of the Smart Growth Operational Program, Measure 4.2; Grant No. POIR.04.02.00-00-D001/20-00, "ATOMIN 2.0-ATOMic scale science for the INnovative economy". The open-access publication of this article has been supported by a grant from the Faculty of Chemistry under the Strategic Programme Excellence Initiative at Jagiellonian University.Tarach, KA.; Martínez-Triguero, J.; Valencia Valencia, S.; Wojciechowska, K.; Rey Garcia, F.; Góra-Marek, K. (2023). Hierarchical zeolites TNU-9 and IM-5 as the catalysts for cracking processes. Applied Catalysis B Environmental. 338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2023.12306633

Ce-modified zeolite BEA catalysts for the trichloroethylene oxidation. The role of the different and necessary active sites

[EN] This paper reports the activity of different Ce-BEA zeolites for the catalytic oxidation of trichloroethylene and it is focused on determining the nature of the catalyst active sites. The study was made by using a microporous zeolite BEA, two types of desilicated BEA zeolites and mildly steamed desilicated BEA zeolites. The catalysts were prepared by introducing Ce to the zeolites with incipient wetness impregnation and their structural, textural, and acidic properties were established. The evolution of TCE conversion was correlated with the physicochemical properties of the zeolites. It is shown that highly developed mesopore surface area, well-dispersed cerium species and a high number of Bronsted sites results in the highest activity. The activity and selectivity of the Ce-loaded zeolites were found to be dependent on the number of high strength Bronsted acid centres. The hierarchical materials with a higher density of hydroxyls showed higher yields to HCl while the formation of chlorine was prevented.The work was financed by the Grant No. 2015/18/E/ST4/00191 from the National Science Centre, Poland. J.M-T. and A.E.P thank Spanish Governmentthrough "Severo Ochoa" SEV-2016-0683, RTI2018-099668-B-C21, RTI2018-101784-B-I00 and the Fundacion Ramon Arecesthrough a research contract of the "Life and Materials Science" program.Golabek, K.; Palomares Gimeno, AE.; Martínez-Triguero, J.; Tarach, KA.; Kruczala, K.; Girman, V.; Góra-Marek, K. (2019). Ce-modified zeolite BEA catalysts for the trichloroethylene oxidation. The role of the different and necessary active sites. Applied Catalysis B Environmental. 259:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2019.11802211225

Mesopore-modified mordenites as catalysts for catalytic pyrolysis of biomass and cracking of vacuum gasoil processes

[EN] Mesopore-modified mordenite zeolitic materials with different Si/Al ratios have been repared and tested in the biomass pyrolysis and catalytic cracking of vacuum gasoil. Alkaline treatment was carried out to generate mesoporosity. Severity of alkaline treatment was found to be of paramount importance to tune the generated mesoporosity, while it significantly affected the crystallinity of treated mordenites. It was moreover observed that the alkaline treatment selectively extracted Si decreasing the Si/Al ratio of treated samples. Catalytic activity of parent and alkaline treated mordenites was studied in the pyrolysis of biomass. All zeolitic based materials produced less amounts of bio-oil but of better quality (lowering the oxygen content from ∼40% to as much as 21%) as compared to the non-catalytic pyrolysis experiments. On the other hand, it was found that the combination of mesopore formation and high surface area after alkaline treatment of the mordenite with a high Si/Al ratio resulted in the enhancement of its catalytic activity, despite the reduction of its acidity. The increment of the decarboxylation and dehydration reactions, combined with a reduction of carbon deposition on the catalyst, resulted in a remarkable decrease in the oxygen content in the organic fraction and therefore, resulted in a superior quality liquid product. Alkaline treated mordenites were additionally acid treated targeting dealumination and removal of the extra framework debris, thus generating mesopore-modified mordenite samples with stronger acid sites and higher total acidity, as candidate catalysts for catalytic cracking of vacuum gasoil. Desilicated and especially desilicated and dealuminated mordenites exhibited the highest activity and selectivity towards LCO with the best olefinicity in gases and higher bottoms conversion. Therefore, an optimized desilicated dealuminated mordenite additive could be an interesting candidate as a component of the FCC catalyst for a high LCO yield.The financial support of this work by the ACENET COMMON INITIATIVE HECABIO: "HEterogeneous CAtalysis for the Conversion of Solid BIOmass into Renewable Fuels and Chemicals" Project ACE.07.026 is gratefully acknowledged.Stefanidis, S.; Kalogiannis, K.; Iliopoulou, EF.; Lappas, AA.; Martínez Triguero, LJ.; Navarro Ruiz, MT.; Chica, A.... (2013). Mesopore-modified mordenites as catalysts for catalytic pyrolysis of biomass and cracking of vacuum gasoil processes. Green Chemistry. 15(6):1647-1658. doi:10.1039/c3gc40161hS1647165815

Identification of a Human SOCS1 Polymorphism That Predicts Rheumatoid Arthritis Severity

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by an autoimmune response in the joints and an exacerbation of cytokine responses. A minority of patients with RA experience spontaneous remission, but most will show moderate/high disease activity, with aggressive joint damage and multiple systemic manifestations. There is thus is a great need to identify prognostic biomarkers for disease risk to improve diagnosis and prognosis, and to inform on the most appropriate therapy. Here we focused on suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1), a physiological negative regulator of cytokines that modulates cell activation. Using four independent cohorts of patients with arthritis, we characterized the correlation between SOCS1 mRNA levels and clinical outcome. We found a significant inverse correlation between SOCS1 mRNA expression and disease activity throughout the follow-up of patients with RA. Lower baseline SOCS1 levels were associated with poorer disease control in response to methotrexate and other conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in early arthritis, and to rituximab in established (active) RA. Moreover, we identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms in the SOCS1 gene that correlated with SOCS1 mRNA expression, and that might identify those patients with early arthritis that fulfill RA classification criteria. One of them, rs4780355, is in linkage disequilibrium with a microsatellite (TTTTC)3−5, mapped 0.9 kb downstream of the SNP, and correlated with reduced SOCS1 expression in vitro. Overall, our data support the association between SOCS1 expression and disease progression, disease severity and response to treatment in RA. These observations underlie the relevance of SOCS1 mRNA levels for stratifying patients prognostically and guiding therapeutic decisions

Hybridizing Feature Selection and Feature Learning Approaches in QSAR Modeling for Drug Discovery

Quantitative structure–activity relationship modeling using machine learning techniques constitutes a complex computational problem, where the identification of the most informative molecular descriptors for predicting a specific target property plays a critical role. Two main general approaches can be used for this modeling procedure: feature selection and feature learning. In this paper, a performance comparative study of two state-of-art methods related to these two approaches is carried out. In particular, regression and classification models for three different issues are inferred using both methods under different experimental scenarios: two drug-like properties, such as blood-brain-barrier and human intestinal absorption, and enantiomeric excess, as a measurement of purity used for chiral substances. Beyond the contrastive analysis of feature selection and feature learning methods as competitive approaches, the hybridization of these strategies is also evaluated based on previous results obtained in material sciences. From the experimental results, it can be concluded that there is not a clear winner between both approaches because the performance depends on the characteristics of the compound databases used for modeling. Nevertheless, in several cases, it was observed that the accuracy of the models can be improved by combining both approaches when the molecular descriptor sets provided by feature selection and feature learning contain complementary information.Fil: Ponzoni, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación. Instituto de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación; ArgentinaFil: Sebastián Pérez, Víctor. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas; EspañaFil: Requena Triguero, Carlos. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas; EspañaFil: Roca, Carlos. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas; EspañaFil: Martínez, María Jimena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación. Instituto de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación; ArgentinaFil: Cravero, Fiorella. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Diaz, Monica Fatima. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Páez, Juan A.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Química Médica; EspañaFil: Gómez Arrayás, Ramón. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Adrio, Javier. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; España. Institute for Advanced Research in Chemical Sciences; EspañaFil: Campillo, Nuria E.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas; Españ

Tendance temporelle de la tuberculose dans la communauté d’ongulés du Parc National de Doñana

Trabajo presentado al 35º Encuentro GEEFSM (Groupe d’Etudes sur l’Eco-pathologie de la Faune Sauvage de Montagne), celebrado en Cofrentes, Muela de Cortes (España) del 1 al 4 de junio de 2017.[ES]: El control de las enfermedades infecciosas compartidas entre la fauna silvestre y el ganado es complejo debido al escaso conocimiento de los procesos epidemiológicos que determinan la transmisión y persistencia de patógenos en la comunidad de hospedadores. La tuberculosis animal (TB) causada por la infección crónica del Complejo Mycobacterium tuberculosis (CMT) es endémica en jabalí (Sus scrofa), ciervo (Cervus elaphus) y gamo (Dama dama) en el centro-sur de España. En este contexto es clave conocer la dinámica temporal de la infección y los factores que modulan el mantenimiento de la TB en el medio natural y, consecuentemente, en el ganado en extensivo. Así, en este estudio utilizamos datos de seguimiento sanitario de ungulados silvestres y de bovino del Parque Nacional de Doñana (PND) para evaluar la tendencia temporal en la prevalencia de TB e identificar sus determinantes. Entre 2006 y 2016 se ha realizado la necropsia, el diagnóstico clínico- lesional y confirmación por cultivo microbiológico en un total de 852 jabalíes, 356 ciervos y 338 gamos dentro del plan de vigilancia sanitaria del PND. Por otro lado, la información sanitaria de 1139 cabezas de ganado bovino ha sido facilitada por los servicios veterinarios oficiales. El análisis espacio-temporal de la infección y sus principales factores de riesgo se ha realizado usando sistemas de información geográfica y modelos lineales generalizados. Los resultados muestran prevalencias de TB más elevadas en jabalí (69,44%), seguido de ciervo (43,38%) y gamo (19,88%); mientras que la incidencia en bovino es del 9%. La tendencia temporal de la infección durante el período estudiado es creciente en ungulados silvestres y se mantiene estable en el ganado bovino, a pesar de los intensos esfuerzos de erradicación en esta especie. En general, varios factores individuales, poblacionales, climatológicos y geográficos están involucrados en la dinámica de la enfermedad. Los individuos adultos muestran una prevalencia elevada respecto a los jóvenes en todas las especies, como se ha sugerido previamente en enfermedades de carácter crónico. En cuanto a la distribución espacial de la infección, se mantiene un marcado gradiente Norte- Sur descrito previamente en 2008, observándose valores superiores de prevalencia en aquellas áreas situadas al norte del PND. Esta situación podría estar mediada por las diferencias en la densidad de hospedadores y en el uso de los recursos. Por ejemplo, se aprecia un mayor riesgo relativo de TB en la cercanía a zonas de elevada agregación de individuos, como es el húmedo borde de la marisma. Estos resultados sobre la dinámica de la TB son fundamentales para comprender la epidemiología de la enfermedad en la comunidad de hospedadores y permitirán ayudar en el diseño de futuras estrategias de control.[IT]: Il controllo delle malattie infettive condivise tra la fauna selvatica e il bestiame è complesso a causa della scarsa conoscenza dei processi epidemiologici che determinano la trasmissione e la persistenza dei patogeni nella comunità di animali ospiti. La tubercolosi animale (TB) causata dall’infezione cronica da parte del Complesso Mycobacterium tuberculosis (CMT) è endemica nel cinghiale (Sus scrofa), cervo (Cervus elaphus) e daino (Dama dama) nel centro- sud della Spagna. In questo contesto è essenziale conoscere la dinamica temporale dell’infezione e i fattori che modulano il mantenimento della TB nell’ambiente naturale e, di conseguenza, nell’allevamento estensivo. In questo studio vengono utilizzati dati di controllo sanitario di ungulati silvestri e bovini nel Parco Nazionale della Dognana (PND), per valutare l’evoluzione temporale nella prevalenza della TB e identificarne i fattori determinanti. Tra il 2006 e il 2016 sono stati realizzati necroscopia, diagnosi clinico-lesionale e conferma tramite coltura microbiologica su un totale di 852 cinghiali, 356 cervi e 338 daini nell’ambito del piano di vigilanza sanitaria del PND. Le informazioni relative a 1139 teste di bestiame (bovino) sono state fornite invece dai servizi sanitari veterinari ufficiali. L’analisi spazio-temporale dell’infezione e dei suoi principali fattori di rischio è stata realizzata utilizzando sistemi di informazione geografica e modelli lineari generalizzati. I risultati mostrano prevalenza di TB più alta nelcinghiale (69,44%), seguito da cervo (43,38%) e daino (19,88%), mentre l’incidenza nel bestiame è del 9%. Durante il periodo studiato l’infezione è andata aumentando negli ungulati selvatici e si è mantenuta stabile nel bestiame, nonostante gli intensi sforzi di eradicazione in questa specie. In generale, vari fattori individuali, demografici, climatologici e geografici sono coinvolti nella dinamica della malattia. Gli individui adulti mostrano una prevalenza più elevata rispetto ai giovani in tutte le specie, come si era già visto precedentemente in altre malattie a carattere cronico. In quanto alla distribuzione spaziale dell’infezione, si mantiene una marcata prevalenza a nord rispetto al sud, già descritta prima nel risultando valori superiori nelle aree situate al nord del PND. Questa situazione potrebbe essere dovuta alle differenze di densità demografica degli ospiti e nell’uso condiviso delle risorse. Per esempio, è stato riscontrato un maggiore rischio relativo di TB nella vicinanza di zone con un alto indice di aggregazione degli individui, come ad esempio i terreni paludosi. Questi risultati sulla dinamica della TB sono fondamentali per comprendere l’epidemiologia della malattia nella comunità degli animali che ne sono ospiti e permetteranno lo sviluppo di future strategie di controllo.[FR]: Le contrôle des maladies infectieuses communes à la faune sauvage et à l’élevage est complexe dû aux faibles connaissances des processus épidémiologiques qui déterminent la transmission et la persistance des pathogènes dans la population d’hôtes. La tuberculose animale (TB) causée par l’infection chronique du Complejo Mycobacterium tuberculosis (CMT) est endémique chez le sanglier (Sus scrofa), le cerf (Cervus elaphus) et le daim (Dama dama) dans le centre-sud de l’Espagne. Dans ce contexte, il est primordial de connaître la dynamique temporelle de l’infection et les facteurs qui modulent le maintien de la TB dans le milieu naturel et, par conséquent, dans l’élevage extensif. Ainsi, dans cette étude, nous utilisons des données de suivi sanitaire des ongulés sauvages et des bovins du Parc National de Doñana (PND) pour évaluer la tendance temporelle dans la prévalence de TB et identifier ses déterminants. Entre 2006 et 2016, il a été réalisé l’autopsie, le diagnostic clinique et la confirmation par culture microbiologique sur un total de 852 sangliers, 356 cerfs et 338 daims dans le plan de vigilance sanitaire du PND. D’autre part, l’information sanitaire de 1139 têtes de bovins a été apportée par les services vétérinaires officiels. L’analyse spatio-temporelle de l’infection et ses principaux facteurs de risque a été réalisée en utilisant ses systèmes d’information géographique et des modèles linéaux généraux. Les résultats indiquent des prévalences de TB plus élevées chez le sanglier (69,44%), suivi du cerf (43,38%) et du daim (19,88%) ; alors que l’incidence chez les bovins es de 9%. La tendance temporelle de l’infection durant la période étudiée est croissante chez les ongulés sauvages et reste stable chez les bovins domestiques, malgré les efforts intenses d’éradication dans cette espèce. En général, plusieurs facteurs individuels, de groupes, climatologiques et géographiques sont impliqués dans la dynamique de la maladie. Les individus adultes présentent une prévalence élevée par rapport aux jeunes et ce dans toutes les espèces, ce qui est généralement le cas pour beaucoup de maladies chroniques. Par rapport à la distribution spatiale de l’infection, elle est surtout située dans le Nord-Sud, comme il a été décrit précédemment en 2008, où des valeurs supérieures de prévalence ont été observées dans les aires situées au nord du PND. Cette situation pourrait être due aux différences dans la densité des hôtes et dans l’utilisation des ressources. Par exemple, on observe un risque plus grand de TB à proximité des zones de densité élevée d’individus, comme le bord humide des marais. Ces résultats sur la dynamique de la TB sont fondamentaux pour comprendre l’épidémiologie de la maladie dans la communauté d’hôte et permettent d’aider pour le développement de futures stratégies de contrôle.Peer reviewe

HLA-B*08 identified as the most associated MHC locus for anti-carbamylated protein antibody-positive/anti-CCP-negative rheumatoid arthritis

Objective: Previously, only the HLA-DRB1 alleles have been assessed in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of the present study was to identify the key major histocompatibility complex (MHC) susceptibility factors showing a significant association with anti-carbamylated protein antibody-positive (anti-CarP+) RA. Methods: Analyses were restricted to RA patients who were anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody negative (anti-CCP-), because the anti-CCP status dominated the results otherwise. Therefore, we studied samples from 1,821 anti-CCP- RA patients and 6,821 population controls from Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The genotypes for ~8,000 MHC biallelic variants were assessed by dense genotyping and imputation. Their association with the anti-CarP status in RA patients was tested with logistic regression and combined with inverse-variance meta-analysis. Significance of the associations was assessed according to a study-specific threshold of P < 2.0 × 10-5 . Results: The HLA-B*08 allele and its correlated amino acid variant Asp-9 showed a significant association with anti-CarP+/anti-CCP- RA (P < 3.78 × 10-7 ; I2 = 0). This association was specific when assessed relative to 3 comparator groups: population controls, anti-CarP-/anti-CCP- RA patients, and anti-CCP- RA patients who were positive for other anti-citrullinated protein antibodies. Based on these findings, anti-CarP+/anti-CCP- RA patients could be separated from other antibody-defined subsets of RA patients in whom an association with the HLA-B*08 allele has been previously demonstrated. No other MHC variant remained associated with anti-CarP+/anti-CCP- RA after accounting for the presence of the HLA-B*08 allele. Specifically, the reported association of HLA-DRB1*03 was observed at a level comparable to that reported previously, but it was attributable to linkage disequilibrium. Conclusion: These results identify HLA-B*08 carrying Asp-9 as the MHC locus showing the strongest association with anti-CarP+/anti-CCP- RA. This knowledge may help clarify the role of the HLA in susceptibility to specific subsets of RA, by shaping the spectrum of RA autoantibodies. © 2020, American College of Rheumatology

IgA vasculitis: influence of CD40, BLK and BANK1 gene polymorphisms

CD40, BLK and BANK1 genes involved in the development and signaling of B-cells are identified as susceptibility loci for numerous inflammatory diseases. Accordingly, we assessed the potential influence of CD40, BLK and BANK1 on the pathogenesis of immunoglobulin-A vasculitis (IgAV), predominantly a B-lymphocyte inflammatory condition. Three genetic variants within CD40 (rs1883832, rs1535045, rs4813003) and BLK (rs2254546, rs2736340, rs2618476) as well as two BANK1 polymorphisms (rs10516487, rs3733197), previously associated with inflammatory diseases, were genotyped in 382 Caucasian patients with IgAV and 955 sex- and ethnically matched healthy controls. No statistically significant differences were observed in the genotype and allele frequencies of CD40, BLK and BANK1 when IgAV patients and healthy controls were compared. Similar results were found when CD40, BLK and BANK1 genotypes or alleles frequencies were compared between patients with IgAV stratified according to the age at disease onset or to the presence/absence of gastrointestinal or renal manifestations. Moreover, no CD40, BLK and BANK1 haplotype differences were disclosed between patients with IgAV and healthy controls and between patients with IgAV stratified according to the clinical characteristics mentioned above. Our findings indicate that CD40, BLK and BANK1 do not contribute to the genetic background of IgAV.Funding: This study was supported by European Union FEDER funds and “Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias” (grants PI18/00042 and PI21/00042) from “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” (ISCIII, Health Ministry, Spain). D.P.-P. is a recipient of a Río Hortega program fellowship from the ISCIII, co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF, “Investing in your future”) (grant number CM20/00006). F.G. is supported by funds of the RICORS Program from ISCIII, co-funded by the European Union (grant number RD21/0002/0025). V.P.-C. is supported by funds of PI18/00042. S.R.-M. is supported by funds of the RETICS Program (RD16/0012/0009) (ISCIII, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)). O.G. is a staff member of Xunta de Galicia (Servizo Galego de Saude (SERGAS)) through a research-staff stabilization contract (ISCIII/SERGAS) and his work is funded by ISCIII and the European Union FEDER fund (grant numbers RD16/0012/0014 (RIER) and PI17/00409). He is a beneficiary of project funds from the Research Executive Agency (REA) of the European Union in the framework of MSCA-RISE Action of the H2020 Program, project 734899—Olive-Net. R.L.-M. is a recipient of a Miguel Servet type II program fellowship from the ISCIII, co-funded by ESF (“Investing in your future”) (grant number CPII21/00004). Acknowledgments: We are indebted to the patients and healthy controls for their essential collaboration on this study. We also thank the National DNA Bank Repository (Salamanca) for supplying part of the control samples

IgA Vasculitis: Influence of CD40, BLK and BANK1 Gene Polymorphisms

CD40, BLK and BANK1 genes involved in the development and signaling of B-cells are identified as susceptibility loci for numerous inflammatory diseases. Accordingly, we assessed the potential influence of CD40, BLK and BANK1 on the pathogenesis of immunoglobulin-A vasculitis (IgAV), predominantly a B-lymphocyte inflammatory condition. Three genetic variants within CD40 (rs1883832, rs1535045, rs4813003) and BLK (rs2254546, rs2736340, rs2618476) as well as two BANK1 polymorphisms (rs10516487, rs3733197), previously associated with inflammatory diseases, were genotyped in 382 Caucasian patients with IgAV and 955 sex- and ethnically matched healthy controls. No statistically significant differences were observed in the genotype and allele frequencies of CD40, BLK and BANK1 when IgAV patients and healthy controls were compared. Similar results were found when CD40, BLK and BANK1 genotypes or alleles frequencies were compared between patients with IgAV stratified according to the age at disease onset or to the presence/absence of gastrointestinal or renal manifestations. Moreover, no CD40, BLK and BANK1 haplotype differences were disclosed between patients with IgAV and healthy controls and between patients with IgAV stratified according to the clinical characteristics mentioned above. Our findings indicate that CD40, BLK and BANK1 do not contribute to the genetic background of IgAV