02478nas a2200613   4500000000100000008004100001260001600042653001200058653001100070653002500081653002300106653003100129653003000160653003800190653001500228653001100243653001200254653002500266653001400291653003600305653001300341653001900354653003000373653001200403100001200415700001400427700001400441700001300455700001700468700001000485700001100495700001400506700001400520700001200534700001200546700001200558700001600570700001300586700001400599700001200613700001500625700001300640700001300653700001900666700001300685700001100698700001300709245006600722300001100788490000800799050001400807520102900821022001401850       2004                            d  c2004 Feb 1210aAlleles10aBrazil10aCase-Control Studies10aChromosome Mapping10aChromosomes, Human, Pair 610aGene Expression Profiling10aGenetic Predisposition to Disease10aHaplotypes10aHumans10aleprosy10aMolecular Chaperones10aPhenotype10aPolymorphism, Single Nucleotide10aProteins10aRNA, Messenger10aUbiquitin-Protein Ligases10aVietnam1 aMira MT1 aAlcaïs A1 aNguyen VT1 aMoraes M1 aDi Flumeri C1 aVu HT1 aMai CP1 aNguyen TH1 aNguyen NB1 aPham XK1 aSarno E1 aAlter A1 aMontpetit A1 aMoraes M1 aMoraes JR1 aDoré C1 aGallant CJ1 aLepage P1 aVerner A1 aVan De Vosse E1 aHudson T1 aAbel L1 aSchurr E00aSusceptibility to leprosy is associated with PARK2 and PACRG.  a636-400 v427  aMIRA 20043 a<p>Leprosy is caused by Mycobacterium leprae and affects about 700,000 individuals each year. It has long been thought that leprosy has a strong genetic component, and recently we mapped a leprosy susceptibility locus to chromosome 6 region q25-q26 (ref. 3). Here we investigate this region further by using a systematic association scan of the chromosomal interval most likely to harbour this leprosy susceptibility locus. In 197 Vietnamese families we found a significant association between leprosy and 17 markers located in a block of approx. 80 kilobases overlapping the 5' regulatory region shared by the Parkinson's disease gene PARK2 and the co-regulated gene PACRG. Possession of as few as two of the 17 risk alleles was highly predictive of leprosy. This was confirmed in a sample of 975 unrelated leprosy cases and controls from Brazil in whom the same alleles were strongly associated with leprosy. Variants in the regulatory region shared by PARK2 and PACRG therefore act as common risk factors for leprosy.</p>  a1476-4687