Published ahead of print on September 30, 2008, doi:10.1164/rccm.200801-182OC Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 178, Number 10, November 2008, 1017-1022 A more recent version of this article appeared on November 15, 2008
Submitted on January 30, 2008 Duffy Antigen/Receptor for Chemokines Gene is Associated with Asthma and IgE in Three PopulationsCandelaria Vergara1,1 Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Baltimore, Maryland, United States; Institute for Immunological Research, University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia, 2 Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 3 Institute for Immunological Research, University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia, 4 National Genome Center at Howard University, Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 5 Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, JHU, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 6 Servico de Imunologia, Hospital Universitario Professor Edgard Santos, Salvador, Brazil, 7 ProAR-Faculdade de Medicina, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil, 8 Faculty of Medicine, Cave Hill Campus, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Cave Hill, Barbados, 9 Faculty of Medicine, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 10 Department of Pediatric Pneumology and Immunology, Charite, Berlin, Germany, 11 Genometrics Section, Inherited Disease Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kbarnes{at}jhmi.edu.
Rationale: Asthma prevalence and severity are high among underserved minorities, including those of African descent. The Duffy antigen/receptor for chemokines is the receptor for Plasmodium vivax on erythrocytes and functions as a chemokine clearing receptor. Unlike European populations, decreased expression of the receptor on erythrocytes is common among populations of African descent, and results from a functional T-46C polymorphism (rs2814778) in the promoter. This variant provides an evolutionary advantage in malaria-endemic regions, because Duffy antigen/receptor for chemokines-negative erythrocytes are more resistant to infection by Plasmodium vivax. Objectives: To determine the role of the rs2814778 polymorphism in asthma and atopy as measured by total serum IgE levels among four populations of African descent (African Caribbean, African American, Brazilian, and Colombian) and a European American population. Methods: Family-based association tests were performed in each of the five populations to test for association between the rs2814778 polymorphism and asthma or total IgE concentrations. Measurements and Main Results: Asthma was significantly associated with the rs2814778 polymorphism in the African Caribbean, Colombian and Brazilian families (P<0.05). High total IgE levels were associated with this variant in African Caribbean and Colombian families (P<0.05). The variant allele was not polymorphic among European Americans. Conclusions: Susceptibility to asthma and atopy among certain populations of African descent is influenced by a functional polymorphism in Duffy Antigen/Receptor for Chemokines gene. This genetic variant, which confers resistance to malarial parasitic infection, may also partially explain ethnic differences in morbidity of asthma. Key words: 1.18 Genetics • DARC • Continental Population Groups • Lung Diseases • Hypersensitivity
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
