Lack of association of the heparanase gene single-nucleotide polymorphism Arg307Lys with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in patients from Northern Ireland

Reply to Winter et al.

“…In their response, Ostrovsky et al 1 suggest the lack of concordance between their findings and our findings may reflect differences between the populations studied. As stated by Ostrovsky et al, 1 their patient and control populations were heterogeneous, including individuals from several Jewish and non-Jewish ethnic groups. In contrast, all of the patient and control individuals included in our study 2 were of Northern Irish origin.…”

“…The different allele frequencies of the Arg307Lys SNP reported for healthy control populations in the two studies by Ostrovosky et al 3,4 require further explanation. Ostrovsky et al 1 suggest that these differences are related to the ethnic composition of the control populations recruited. Their initial study, 3 included healthy individuals from four Israeli Jewish populations (Ashkenazi, North African, Mediterranean and Near Eastern).…”

Association of heparanase gene (HPSE‐1) single nucleotide polymorphisms with gastric cancer

“…Ostrovsky et al [13] reported that genotype and allele frequencies of the SNP in a group of 43 Israeli acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) patients were significantly different from a group of 103 healthy control individuals (w 2 ¼ 6.384; P ¼ 0.041 for genotype comparison and w 2 ¼ 4.96; P ¼ 0.026 for allele comparison). Winter et al [14] found that this SNP showed no significant differences between 58 ALL patients and 45 healthy controls in subjects from Northern Ireland (w 2 ¼ 2.866; P ¼ 0.260 for genotype comparison and w 2 ¼ 2.629; P ¼ 0.105 for allele comparison). The present study seemed to confirm the latter.…”

Reply to Ostrovosky et al.

“…As stated by Ostrovsky et al, 1 their patient and control populations were heterogeneous, including individuals from several Jewish and non-Jewish ethnic groups. In contrast, all of the patient and control individuals included in our study 2 were of Northern Irish origin. Due to its geographical isolation and historically low levels of inward migration, the population of Northern Ireland may be considered to be genetically more homogeneous relative to other populations, such as the Israeli population, studied by Ostrovosky et al As such, we suggest that the influence of genetic factors predisposing to complex conditions, such as ALL, may be more apparent in our population.…”