Polymorphism of CD36 in Thai malaria patients

Abstract

CD36 is an 88 kD glycoprotein involved in the cytoadherence of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes to endothelial cells. CD36 deficiency is expected to be protective against malaria infection, since adhesion of infected erythrocytes to CD36 contributes to sequestering infected erythrocytes and inhibiting the immune response to malaria parasites. And individuals deficient in CD36 expression are phenotypically normal. Several polymorphisms causing CD36 deficiency have been reported to date , In Africa, the T1264G stop mutation in exon 10 is known as a major cause of CD36 deficiency. Recently, the 1264G allele was found to be associated with protection from severe malaria in Africa, although there is a contradictory report showing a susceptibility of 1264G allele to the severity of malaria. However, a polymorphism of CD36 has not been studied well in Asian malaria patients. In this study, exon 10 of CD 36 was investigated in malaria patients living in the northwest of Thailand, by a PCR-direct sequencing analysis. Our results revealed that none of 52 Thai malaria patients have the 1264G allele, the frequency of which is around 10% in African populations. Instead, a novel synonymous substitution (phe-phe), T1168C, was found in exon 10. The frequencies of a minor allele 1168C in 26 mild malaria and in 26 cerebral malaria patients were 3.8% (2/52) and 5.8% (3/52), respectively. A further variation in other exons and promoter region of CD36 is under investigation.