title: An association between Gc (vitamin D-binding protein) alleles and susceptibility to rheumatic fever.
abstract: Rheumatic fever is associated with exaggerated activity of B cells with massive production of antibody to the Group A streptococcus. Gc (vitamin D-binding protein) is constitutively expressed on B-cell membranes in association with membrane immunoglobulin, and could be involved in cell activation. We therefore looked for associations between the three major Gc alleles and susceptibility to rheumatic fever in a homogeneous Arab population. Patients with tuberculosis or rheumatoid arthritis and control donors, were studied in parallel. Allele frequencies in the controls, rheumatoid and tuberculosis patients were identical to those found in a previous study of normal Arab donors. However, there was a striking association between Gc2 and rheumatic fever. This allele was twice as common in these patients as in controls (p = 0.0024), and was present in 56.4% of all rheumatic fever patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Bahr
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Eales
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Nye
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Majeed
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Yousof
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Behbehani
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Rook
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D002648:Child; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012213:Rheumatic Fever / Q000235:genetics*; D014809:Vitamin D-Binding Protein / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014809:Vitamin D-Binding Protein