Current opinion in pulmonary medicine
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Increased familial occurrences as well as different disease modes in different ethnic groups suggest a genetic influence in sarcoidosis. Also, genetic analyses have revealed a number of chromosomal regions and specific genes associated with sarcoidosis. This review brings up some recent discoveries on the genetic contribution to sarcoidosis. ⋯ Sarcoidosis is a complex disease which is influenced by a multitude of genes and environmental factors. The strongest genetic associations are found within the human leucocyte antigen region, in which several specific human leucocyte antigen alleles clearly associate with disease risk and phenotype, but additional genes in the same region may turn out to be important as well. Future studies on large, clinically well defined patient cohorts will help to elucidate the genetic impact on sarcoidosis.