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¹ Institute of Human Genetics, International Centre for Life,
² Department of Child Health, School of Clinical and Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle, Central Parkway, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3BZ, UK

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to C J Owen; Email: c.j.owen{at}ncl.ac.uk)

Regulatory T lymphocytes play a crucial role in modulating potentially self-reactive clones, and dysfunction of this cell type contributes to autoimmune disease. FOXP3 is a critical determinant of CD⁴⁺CD²⁵⁺T regulatory (T_reg) cell development and function. The aim of this study was to investigate whether genetic polymorphisms at the FOXP3 locus predispose to autoimmune endocrinopathies. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two microsatellite polymorphisms were genotyped in our Caucasian cohorts of 633 unrelated Graves’ disease (GD) subjects, 104 autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD) subjects and 528 healthy controls. SNP genotyping was performed by either restriction enzyme digestion or by primer-extension-MALDI-TOF (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight) assay. Microsatellites were analysed using fluorescent PCR. Case-control analysis was performed using ² testing on contingency tables for allele frequency. Haplotype analysis was performed using the UNPHASED package. No evidence for disease association was found with any of the seven polymorphisms in either of the GD or AAD subjects as compared with controls (P = 0.26–0.94). Haplotype analysis found a weak evidence for the association of a minor haplotype with GD; this was not significant when corrected for multiple testing. This study has found no robust evidence that FOXP3 gene polymorphism contributes to the susceptibility to GD or AAD in the UK population.

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				C. J. Owen, H. Kelly, J. A. Eden, M. E. Merriman, S. H. S. Pearce, and T. R. Merriman Analysis of the Fc Receptor-Like-3 (FCRL3) Locus in Caucasians with Autoimmune Disorders Suggests a Complex Pattern of Disease Association J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., March 1, 2007; 92(3): 1106 - 1111. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]