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Genetic variants of the MRC1 gene and the IFNG gene are associated with leprosy in Han Chinese from Southwest China

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Abstract

Leprosy is an ancient infectious disease, with over 200,000 affected people (mainly in Asia and Africa) being registered annually. Genetic factors may confer susceptibility to this disease. In the present study, we genotyped 12 genetic variants of the MRC1 gene and the IFNG gene in 527 Han Chinese with leprosy and 583 healthy individuals from Yunnan, China, to discern potential association of these two genes with leprosy. In particular, we aimed to validate the recently reported association of MRC1 variant rs1926736 (p.G396S) and IFNG variant rs2430561 (+874 T>A) with leprosy, which were initially observed in Vietnamese and Brazilian populations, respectively. Our results failed to confirm the reported association between variants rs1926736 and rs2430561 and leprosy in Han Chinese. However, we found that variants rs692527 (P = 0.022) and rs34856358 (P = 0.022) of the MRC1 gene were associated with paucibacillary leprosy, and rs3138557 of the IFNG gene was significantly associated with multibacillary leprosy. The exact role of the MRC1 gene and the IFNG gene in leprosy awaits future study.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all the participants in this study. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30925021), Yunnan Province (云南省高端人才计划 2009CI119), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, 650223, Yunnan, China

    Dong Wang, Jia-Qi Feng, Deng-Feng Zhang & Yong-Gang Yao

  2. Department of Dermatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College, Kunming, 650032, Yunnan, China

    Yu-Ye Li

  3. Yuxi City Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Yuxi, 653100, Yunnan, China

    Xiao-An Li

  4. School of Life Science, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116081, Liaoning, China

    Jia-Qi Feng & Qing-Wei Li

  5. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Dong Wang & Deng-Feng Zhang

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  1. Dong Wang
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  2. Jia-Qi Feng
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  3. Yu-Ye Li
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Correspondence to Yong-Gang Yao.

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D. Wang and J.-Q. Feng contributed equally to this work.

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Wang, D., Feng, JQ., Li, YY. et al. Genetic variants of the MRC1 gene and the IFNG gene are associated with leprosy in Han Chinese from Southwest China. Hum Genet 131, 1251–1260 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-012-1153-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-012-1153-7

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