Haplotype association between haptoglobin (Hp2) and Hp promoter SNP (A-61C) may explain previous controversy of haptoglobin and malaria protection.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Malaria is one of the strongest recent selective pressures on the human genome, as evidenced by the high levels of varying haemoglobinopathies in human populations-despite the increased risk of mortality in the homozygous states. Previously, functional polymorphisms of Hp, coded by the co-dominant alleles Hp1 and Hp2, have been variously associated with several infectious diseases, including malaria susceptibility.

Methodology/principal findings

Risk of a clinical malarial episode over the course of a malarial transmission season was assessed using active surveillance in a cohort of Gambian children aged 10-72 months. We report for the first time that the major haplotype for the A-61C mutant allele in the promoter of haptoglobin (Hp)-an acute phase protein that cl

SUBMITTER: Cox SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1838521 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature