Distribution of the FcgammaRIIIa 176 F/V polymorphism amongst healthy Chinese, Malays and Asian Indians in Singapore.
OBJECTIVE
To determine and compare the distribution of the FcgammaRIIIa 176 F/V polymorphism across three ethnically distinct populations (Chinese, Asian Indians and Malays) in Singapore.


METHODS
The FcgammaRIIIa 176 F/V polymorphism was genotyped by direct sequencing from genomic DNA samples obtained from normal healthy Chinese, Asian Indians and Malays (n = 192 from each population).


RESULTS
The allelic frequencies of the high binding affinity FcgammaRIIIa 176 V allele for Chinese, Asian Indians and Malays were 35%, 33% and 46%, respectively (F allele frequencies were 65%, 67% and 54%, respectively). Genotype distributions were found to conform to the Hardy-Weinberg law (P > 0.05) in each group. chi(2) comparisons revealed significant differences in the genotype distributions of the FcgammaRIIIa 176 V/F polymorphism of Malays from the other two populations (Chinese and Asian Indians). However, no significant difference in the genotype distributions of the FcgammaRIIIa 176 V/F polymorphism was observed between Chinese and Asian Indian populations.


CONCLUSIONS
The genotype distributions of the FcgammaRIIIa 176 V/F polymorphism in healthy Malays are significantly different from both Chinese and Indians. These observations provide the fundamentals on which future disease associations may be built and also present important implications for the design of therapeutic regimens amongst various ethnic groups.
Chong
K T
KT
Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Ho
W F
WF
Koo
S H
SH
Thompson
Peter
P
Lee
Edmund J D
EJ
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008296:Malaysia / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012846:Singapore