title: Asporin and knee osteoarthritis in patients of Greek origin.
abstract: Ostearthritis (OA) is characterized by focal areas of loss of the articular cartilage in synovial joints, associated with varying degrees of osteophyte formation, subchondral bone change and synovitis. The Asporin (ASPN) gene which encodes a protein of the extracellular cartilage matrix contains a triplet repeat encoding for aspartic acid (D) within exon 2 The D14 allele was found associated with knee and hip osteoarthritis in case-control study in the Japanese population. Genotyping Greek knee OA patients for the D repeats we determined that the D15 allele could be considered a risk allele for our population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, Athens University, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaliakatsos
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tzetis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kanavakis
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fytili
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chouliaras
authors.forename: Th
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karachalios
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Malizos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsezou
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: C439889:ASPN protein, human; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins