Immunoglobulin enhancer HS1,2 polymorphism: A new powerful anthropogenetic marker

Date

2006

Authors

Giambra, Vincenzo
Martinez, Labarga Cristina
Giufre, Maria
Modiano, D.
Simpore, Jacques
Gisladottir, B. K.
Francavilla, R.
Zhelezova, Galina
Crawford, M.
Biondi, Gianfranco

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Wiley

Abstract

The human HS1,2 enhancer of the immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chain 3' enhancer complex plays a central role in the regulation of Ig maturation and production. Four common alleles HS1,2-A*1, *2, *3, *4 are directly implicated with the transcription level and at least one of them, HS1, 2-A*2, seems to be related to immune disorders, such as coeliac disease, herpetiform dermatitis and Berger syndrome. Given their clinical significance it is of interest to know the distribution of HS1,2-A variants in populations from different continents, as well as to determine whether the polymorphism is associated to specific evolutionary factors. In this paper we report the distribution of the HS1,2-A polymorphism in 1098 individuals from various African, Asian and European populations. HS1,2-A*3 and HS1,2-A*4 alleles are at their highest frequencies among Africans, and HS1,2-A*2 is significantly lower in Africans in comparison with both Europeans and, to a lesser extent, Asians. Analysis of molecular variance of the allele frequencies indicates that the HS1,2-A polymorphism can be considered as a reliable anthropogenetic marker.

Description

Keywords

Genetics & heredity, Regulatory region, Immunoglobulines, Immune-pathologies, Human populations, HS1,2 Ig enhancer, Allelic frequencies, Diseases, Evolution, Promoters, Population, Iga nephropathy

Citation

Giambra, V. vd. (2006). ''Immunoglobulin enhancer HS1,2 polymorphism: A new powerful anthropogenetic marker''. Annals of Human Genetics, 70(6), 946-950.