Polymorphism in gene for islet autoantigen, IA-2, and type 1 diabetes in Japanese subjects

Autoantibodies against IA-2 have been detected in up to 86% of newly diagno sed patients with type 1 diabetes and appear to identify a subgroup oi pred iabetic subjects who rapidly progress to type 1 diabetes. We examined the a ssociation of IA-2 gene polymorphism with type 1 diabetes in Japanese subje cts. A total of 276 Japanese subjects were studied fur disease association and, in addition, another 53 patients were studied for association with the autoantibody status to IA-2. A microsatellite marker D2S1753E, located in thr intron of the IA-2 gene, was used as a genetic marker in this study. In Japanese, two alleles (161mu and 165mu) were more frequent, and the 163mu allele was less frequent than in Caucasians (p = 0.0001). There was no sign ificant difference in frequencies of alleles between diabetic patients and control subjects. The frequency of IA-2 gene polymorphism was not significa ntly different between patients stratified by age-at-onset, or between pati ents with and without susceptible HLA, DRB1*0405, DRB1*0802 and DRB1*'0901. There was no significant difference in allele frequency of the IA-2 gene p olymorphism between patients with and without autoantibody to IA-2. In conc lusion, IA-2 gene polymorphism is not associated with either susceptibility to, or heterogeneity in type 1 diabetes in Japanese subjects. (C) American Society fur Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 2001. Published by Else vier Science Inc.