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. 1989 May;67(1):126–128.

An association between Gc (vitamin D-binding protein) alleles and susceptibility to rheumatic fever.

G M Bahr 1, L J Eales 1, K E Nye 1, H A Majeed 1, A M Yousof 1, K Behbehani 1, G A Rook 1
PMCID: PMC1385300  PMID: 2737695

Abstract

Rheumatic fever is associated with exaggerated activity of B cells with massive production of antibody to the Group A streptococcus. Gc (vitamin D-binding protein) is constitutively expressed on B-cell membranes in association with membrane immunoglobulin, and could be involved in cell activation. We therefore looked for associations between the three major Gc alleles and susceptibility to rheumatic fever in a homogeneous Arab population. Patients with tuberculosis or rheumatoid arthritis and control donors, were studied in parallel. Allele frequencies in the controls, rheumatoid and tuberculosis patients were identical to those found in a previous study of normal Arab donors. However, there was a striking association between Gc2 and rheumatic fever. This allele was twice as common in these patients as in controls (p = 0.0024), and was present in 56.4% of all rheumatic fever patients.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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