0000000000878606
AUTHOR
L. Braun
Null alleles of human complement C4. Evidence for pseudogenes at the C4A locus and for gene conversion at the C4B locus
The two genes for the C4A and C4B isotypes of the fourth component of human complement are located in the MHC class III region. Previous studies have demonstrated the unusual expression of C4 genes in the form of aberrant or duplicated haplotypes. Null alleles of C4A or C4B (AQ0 or BQ0) have been defined by the absence of gene products and occur at frequencies of 0.1-0.3. However, only some C4 null alleles are due to gene deletions, the remainder were thought to be nonexpressed genes. We have analyzed the C4 gene structure of 26 individuals lacking either C4A or C4B protein. The DNA of individuals with apparently nonexpressed C4 genes was tested for the presence of C4A- and C4B-specific seq…
Possible association of sudden infant death with partial complement C4 deficiency revealed by post-mortem DNA typing of HLA class II and III genes
Based on evidence of an increased rate of respiratory infections in sudden infant death (SID) infants as well as the observation of familial occurrence, we analysed in a retrospective study class II and class II genes of the major histocompatibility complex in 40 cases of SID by Southern blot analysis of DNA obtained post mortem from tissue samples. In 24 cases, the parents were interviewed and confirmatory human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) and DNA typing was carried out. Using HLA-DR beta and -DQ beta probes, no evidence of an abnormal HLA-DR frequency distribution in SID infants was detected (P = 0.97). Using DNA probes for the tandemly arranged complement C4 and steroid 21-hydroxylase genes…