High incidence of complement C9 deficiency in Koreans.
Complement 9 deficiency is the most common complement deficiency in Japan, but it is rare in western countries. Because of Korea's geographical proximity to Japan, C9 deficiency in Korea has also been assumed to be common although this has never before been proven. We investigated complement deficiency in the serum samples of 6,159 Korean hospital outpatients. The deficiency was screened by a sensitive hemolytic assay and was confirmed by immunoassay of each complement component. Three C9-deficient individuals were found, giving an incidence of 0.049%, which is lower than that in Japan but still a considerable figure. Complement deficiencies other than that of C9 were not detected in this study. It is therefore necessary to consider the possibility of C9 deficiency in the interpretation of unexpectedly low complement-mediated hemolytic activity in East Asians.
Kang
Hee Jung
HJ
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang, Korea. kangheejung@hallym.or.kr
Kim
Han Sung
HS
Lee
Yung Kyoung
YK
Cho
Hyoun Chan
HC
D044466:Asian People; D003186:Complement C9 / Q000172:deficiency*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D010045:Outpatients
D003186:Complement C9