title: Chromosome 6q25 is linked to susceptibility to leprosy in a Vietnamese population.
abstract: Leprosy, a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, affects an estimated 700,000 persons each year. Clinically, leprosy can be categorized as paucibacillary or multibacillary disease. These clinical forms develop in persons that are intrinsically susceptible to leprosy per se, that is, leprosy independent of its specific clinical manifestation. We report here on a genome-wide search for loci controlling susceptibility to leprosy per se in a panel of 86 families including 205 siblings affected with leprosy from Southern Vietnam. Using model-free linkage analysis, we found significant evidence for a susceptibility gene on chromosome region 6q25 (maximum likelihood binomial (MLB) lod score 4.31; P = 5 x 10(-6)). We confirmed this by family-based association analysis in an independent panel of 208 Vietnamese leprosy simplex families. Of seven microsatellite markers underlying the linkage peak, alleles of two markers (D6S1035 and D6S305) showed strong evidence for association with leprosy (P = 6.7 x 10(-4) and P = 5.9 x 10(-5), respectively).
authors.affiliation: McGill Centre for the Study of Host Resistance and Department of Human Genetics, McGill University, 1650 Cedar Avenue, Montreal, H3G 1A4 PQ, Canada.
authors.forename: Marcelo T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Mira
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alcaïs
authors.forename: Nguyen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Van Thuc
authors.forename: Vu Hong
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Thai
authors.forename: Nguyen Thu
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Huong
authors.forename: Nguyen Ngoc
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Ba
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verner
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abel
authors.forename: Erwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schurr
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D002879:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 10 / Q000235:genetics; D002896:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6 / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000235:genetics*; D008126:Lod Score; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D014744:Vietnam