Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 55, 167-169, 2002

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Short Communication

Absence of Association between the Fcg receptor IIIA-176F/V Polymorphism and the Severity of Malaria in Thai

Kazuya Omi, Jun Ohashi*, Jintana Patarapotikul¹, Hathairad Hananantachai¹, Izumi Naka, Sornchai Looareesuwan¹ and Katsushi Tokunaga

Department of Human Genetics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan and ¹Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 420/6 Rajvithi Road, Bangkok, Thailand

(Received September 25, 2002. Accepted Ocotober 28, 2002)

SUMMARY: Human Fcg receptor (FcgR) genes form a clustered gene family, which consists of FcgRIIA, IIB, IIC, IIIA, and IIIB genes, on chromosome 1q23. We previously reported that the FcgRIIA-131H/H genotype in combination with the FcgRIIIB-NA2 allele is associated with susceptibility to cerebral malaria, and that such an association can be caused by linkage disequilibrium (LD) between these polymorphisms and the primary associated gene(s) in this region. FcgRIIIA is known to exhibit the genetic polymorphism FcgRIIIA-176F/V coded for different affinity to IgG1 and IgG3. In this study, we examined a possible association between FcgRIIIA-176F/V polymorphism and severity of malaria in 462 adult Thai patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The frequencies of FcgRIIIA-176V among patients with mild malaria, with non-cerebral severe malaria, and with cerebral malaria were 32.7%, 29.9%, and 36.3%, respectively. This polymorphism showed neither positive nor negative association with the severity of malaria. Thus, we concluded that the association of FcgRIIA-131H/R and FcgRIIIB-NA1/NA2 polymorphisms with cerebral malaria in Thailand is not due to the LD caused by FcgRIIIA-176F/V.

*Corresponding author: Tel: +81-3-5841-3693, Fax: +81-3-5802-8619, E-mail: juno@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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