MICA polymorphisms associated with antithyroid drug-induced agranulocytosis in the Chinese Han population

Novel Association of KLRC4-KLRK1 Gene Polymorphisms with Susceptibility and Progression of Antithyroid Drug-Induced Agranulocytosis

OBJECTIVE

Antithyroid drug (ATD)-induced agranulocytosis (TIA) is the most serious adverse effect during ATD treatment of Graves' disease (GD). Previously, the MICA gene was reported to be associated with TIA. MICA protein is an important ligand for the NKG2D protein, which is encoded by the KLRK1 gene and KLRC4-KLRK1 read-through transcription. This study further investigated the association between KLRC4-KLRK1 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to TIA.

METHODS

Twenty-eight candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on KLRC4-KLRK1 read-through transcription were evaluated by the iPLEX MassARRAY system in 209 GD control patients and 38 TIA cases.

RESULTS

A significant association of rs2734565 polymorphism with TIA was found (p=0.02, OR=1.80, 95% CI=1.09-2.96). The haplotype C-A-A-C-G, including rs2734565-C, was associated with a significantly higher risk of TIA (p=4.79E-09, OR=8.361, 95% CI=3.737-18.707). In addition, the interval time from hyperthyroidism to agranulocytosis onset was shorter in patients carrying the rs2734565-C allele than in non-carrying groups (45.00 (14.00-6570.00) d vs. 1080.00 (30.00-3600.00) d, p=0.046), and the interval from ATD treatment to agranulocytosis onset was also shorter in patients carrying rs2734565-C allele (29.00 (13.00-75.00) d vs. 57.50 (21.00-240.00) d, p=0.023).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that the KLRC4-KLRK1 gene polymorphism is associated with susceptibility and progression of ATD-induced agranulocytosis. Patients carrying the rs2734565-C allele had a higher susceptibility and faster onset time of TIA.

Exploring the Impact of Insertion/Deletion in FTO and PLIN1 Genes on Morphometric Traits in Sheep

This study aimed to identify InDels from the FTO and PLIN1 genes and to analyze their association with morphometric traits in Hu sheep (HS), Dupor sheep (DS), and Small Tail Han sheep (STHS). The FTO and PLIN1 genes were genotyped using the insertion/deletion (InDel) method. A one-way ANOVA with SPSS 26.0 software (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA) was used to assess the effect of the InDel FTO and PLIN1 genes on morphometric traits. The results revealed significant associations between certain InDels and the morphometric traits in different breeds of sheep. Specifically, FTO-2 was significantly associated with cannon circumference (CaC) in HS rams and body height (BoH) in HS ewes (p < 0.05). FTO-2 was also significantly associated with chest width (ChW), CaC, head length (HeL), and coccyx length (CoL) in the STHS breed (p < 0.05). FTO-3 showed significant associations with BoH in HS rams and BoH, back height (BaH), ChW, and chest depth (ChD) in HS ewes (p < 0.05). FTO-3 was also significantly associated with ChW in the DS and STHS breeds (p < 0.05). FTO-5 was significantly associated with body weight (BoW) in the DS breed and BoH in the STHS breed (p < 0.05). Furthermore, PLIN1 was significantly related to BoW in the DS breed and was significantly associated with CoL and forehead width (FoW) in the STHS breed (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the study suggested that InDels in the FTO and PLIN1 genes could provide practical information to improve morphometric traits in sheep breeding.

MICA polymorphisms associated with antithyroid drug-induced agranulocytosis in the Chinese Han population

Background

Graves' disease (GD) is a clinical autoimmune thyroid disease. During the treatment of GD, antithyroid drug‐induced agranulocytosis (TIA) is a common and even life‐threatening adverse drug reaction. Previous studies suggested that susceptibility to TIA is strongly associated with HLA‐B*27:05, HLA‐B*38:02, and HLA‐DRB1*08:03 genetic variation and six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in MICA genes.

Aims

The purpose of this study is to further study the associations between TIA, HLA‐B and MICA.

Materials & Methods

We genotyped MICA‐STR and MICA‐129 variants in 41 TIA and 308 control patients with GD and investigated the linkage effect among SNPs and short tandem repeat (STR) of MICA and HLA‐B alleles.

Results

The results showed that MICA*A5.1 was significantly associated with TIA (p = .007, odd ratio = 1.958, 95% confidence interval, 1.192–3.214). In addition, high linkage among MICA‐129 and six SNPs MICA and HLA‐B was detected, and two haplotypes (AAAACAAAAACGGCCTA and AACAAAAAAAACATTAA (p = 5.14E−07 and p = 3.42E−08, respectively)) were significantly associated with TIA. Furthermore, when we analyzed only MICA‐129 and HLA‐B separately, the haplotypes (AAAACAAAAAA with p = 2.49E−07 and AACAAAAAAAA with p = 2.14E−09) were identified with more significant effects. MICA‐129 was completely linked to six SNPs with haplotypes ACATTACA (p = 2.05E−05) significantly associated with TIA.

Conclusion

These data indicated that there was a significant linkage effect between MICA‐129 and other alleles, suggesting that they exert interactive effects as risk factors for the development of TIA.