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Susceptibility to leprosy is associated with PARK2 and PACRG

Susceptibility to leprosy is associated with PARK2 and PACRG

Authors :
Vu Hong Thai
Pierre Lepage
Nguyen Thu Huong
Esther van de Vosse
Laurent Abel
Erwin Schurr
Nguyen Van Thuc
Mai Chi Phuong
Thomas J. Hudson
Andrea Alter
Marcelo Távora Mira
Alexandre Montpetit
Milton Ozório Moraes
Euzenir Nunes Sarno
Caroline J. Gallant
Pham Xuan Khoa
Andrei Verner
Celestino Di Flumeri
Alexandre Alcaïs
Carole Doré
Nguyen Ngoc Ba
Maria E. Moraes
José Reinaldo da Silva Cabral de Moraes
Source :
Nature. 427(6975)
Publication Year :
2003

Abstract

Leprosy is caused by Mycobacterium leprae and affects about 700,000 individuals each year1. It has long been thought that leprosy has a strong genetic component2, and recently we mapped a leprosy susceptibility locus to chromosome 6 region q25–q26 (ref. 3). Here we investigate this region further by using a systematic association scan of the chromosomal interval most likely to harbour this leprosy susceptibility locus. In 197 Vietnamese families we found a significant association between leprosy and 17 markers located in a block of approx. 80 kilobases overlapping the 5′ regulatory region shared by the Parkinson's disease gene PARK2 and the co-regulated gene PACRG. Possession of as few as two of the 17 risk alleles was highly predictive of leprosy. This was confirmed in a sample of 975 unrelated leprosy cases and controls from Brazil in whom the same alleles were strongly associated with leprosy. Variants in the regulatory region shared by PARK2 and PACRG therefore act as common risk factors for leprosy.

Details

ISSN :
14764687
Volume :
427
Issue :
6975
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Nature
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....e94f70552f3fdf5f14d64afc355e9a5a