title: Aspartic acid repeat polymorphism of the asporin gene with susceptibility to osteoarthritis of the knee in a Korean population.
abstract: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common disease that is characterized by the degeneration of joint cartilage in the knee, hip and hand. Recently, it has been reported that susceptibility to OA is affected by the number of aspartic acid (D) residues in the amino-terminal of the asporin protein. In order to investigate whether the association found in Japanese OA is also present in the Korean population, the frequency of the polymorphism was examined in 190 OA patients and 376 healthy controls. The D-repeat microsatellite polymorphism was examined by amplifying the asporin gene and sequencing its products. The frequencies of the D13 and D14 alleles were 69.7% (265/380) and 5.8% (22/380), respectively, in OA patients and 64.2% (483/752) and 8.7% (65/752), respectively, in healthy controls. When we adjusted for gender and age, there was no statistically significant difference between Korean OA patients and healthy controls (P=0.1082) in the allele frequency of D13 compared to the other alleles. However, a significant difference between female OA patients and their controls (P=0.0245) in the allele frequency of the D13 allele was found compared to the other alleles. There was no significant difference between Korean OA patients and healthy controls in the frequency of the D14 and other alleles (P=0.2339). These results suggest that asporin may play a role in OA susceptibility of the knee in the Korean female population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Hwi
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Hwa Sung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chang Jae
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yong Gu
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Yong Gyu
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Suk Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Jung Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Won Sang
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020449:Repetitive Sequences, Amino Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: C439889:ASPN protein, human; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D001224:Aspartic Acid