Blood, Vol. 92 No. 7 (October 1), 1998:
pp. 2237-2243
A Novel Mutation in the Coding Sequence of the FY*B Allele of the Duffy
Chemokine Receptor Gene Is Associated With an Altered Erythrocyte
Phenotype
Niva Parasol,
Marion Reid,
Maria Rios,
Lilian Castilho,
Ilana Harari, and
Nechama S. Kosower
From the Department of Human Genetics, Sackler School of Medicine,
Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; the Department of Molecular
Genotyping, New York Blood Center, New York, NY; and the Blood Services
Center, Magen David Adom, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.
The Duffy blood group system is of clinical and biological
significance. Antibodies to Duffy antigens are responsible for some
cases of transfusion incompatibility and newborn hemolytic disease. The
Duffy protein is a receptor for the Plasmodium vivax erythrocyte-binding protein and is also a receptor for various chemokines (thus renamed Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines [DARC]). The two Duffy polymorphic antigens, Fya and
Fyb (coded by the FY*A and FY*B alleles), are present on
erythrocyte membranes. The Fy(a
b
) phenotype is the predominant
one in populations of black people and also occurs in other
populations, including some non-Ashkenazi Jewish groups. The
Fy(a
b
) phenotype has been associated with a mutation in the FY*B
promoter at the GATA box that abolishes the expression of erythrocyte
Duffy protein. We describe here a novel mutation, present in the FY*B
coding sequence (271C
T), that is associated with some
Fy(b
) phenotypes among non-Ashkenazi Jews and among Brazilian
blacks. The mutation is present in Fy(b
) individuals, who have
wild-type FY*B GATA and carry the previously described 304G
A substitution. The 271C
T and 304G
A can be
identified by restriction enzyme-generated restriction fragment length
polymorphisms. The 271C
T substitution represents a
considerable change in chemical nature (Arg91
Cys), one
which may affect the antigenic determinants of DARC, and thus be of
clinical significance. The mutation may have implications for some
physiological roles of DARC and be of interest in malaria research and
in studies of population genetics.