Analysis of measles virus binding sites of the CD46 in patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

Measles virus (MV) binding sites of the CD46 gene were sequenced in patient s with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) and in controls. There we re 3 novel polymorphisms, including CIT at nucleotide position 38 (C/T38), G/A at position 176 (G/A176), and CIT at position 453 (C/T453), at allele f requencies of .97 : .03, .99 : .01, and .97 : .03, respectively. The G/A176 polymorphism causes an Arg/Gln amino acid change within the essential bind ing sites of MV, whereas the C/A38 polymorphism causes a Ser/Phe change out side the MV binding sites. The C/T453 polymorphism does not produce an amin o acid change. Two of the 40 SSPE patients and 2 of the 32 controls had bot h C/T38 and C/T453 polymorphisms in heterozygous patterns. One control subj ect, but no SSPE patients, had the G/A176 polymorphism in a heterozygous pa ttern. Thus, it is not likely that CD46 gene alteration has a role as a hos t susceptibility factor in the development of SSPE.