Absence of an association between intercellular adhesion molecule 1, complement receptor 1 and interleukin 1 receptor antagonist gene polymorphisms and severe malaria in a West African population.
Many genes have been shown to be involved in host susceptibility to the severe forms of Plasmodium falciparum malaria but it is likely that a large number of malaria-susceptibility genes remain to be determined. We conducted a large case-control study of children with the severe forms of this disease-cerebral malaria and severe malarial anaemia--to attempt to identify these genes. Over 1200 children in The Gambia were typed for polymorphisms of the intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), complement receptor 1 (CR-1) and interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-IRA) genes. None of the polymorphisms typed was significantly associated with severe disease. These data differed significantly from the results of a previous study (Chi 2 = 8.81; P = 0.003) in which the ICAM-1 gene polymorphism was shown to be significantly associated with cerebral malaria in a case-control study of 547 subjects in Kenya. This suggests that there may be heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility to this condition between these 2 African populations.
Bellamy
R
R
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford, UK. richard@well.ox.ac.uk
Kwiatkowski
D
D
Hill
A V
AV
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005714:Gambia; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D005820:Genetic Testing; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011951:Receptors, Complement / Q000235:genetics*; D017472:Receptors, Interleukin-1 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics*
D011951:Receptors, Complement; D017472:Receptors, Interleukin-1; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1