Suggestive or inexclusive linkage of Childhood Cerebral Malaria to 3q27-q29 region in a Sudanese consanguineous family from Central Sudan

Abstract

Small proportion of malaria infected individuals develops severe clinical phenotypes while other doesn't. Cerebral malaria (CM) is a selective phenotype of severe malaria that may clusters in certain families. The main purpose of this study was to localize the gene(s) that control(s) the susceptibility to cerebral malaria in a large inbred Sudanese family with sex members having CM. A total of 58 microsatellite markers were typed in the family. Linkage analysis was done by two-point linkage analysis based on a recessive model under 50% of penetrance. There was no markers with a lod score ≥ 3.0 which is the criterion for significant linkage in families. However, one marker (D3S1580) on chromosome 3 with maximum lod scores of 1.40 at recombination fraction (θ at 0.00). This may indicated that a suggestive or inexclusive linkage of cerebral malaria to chromosome 3q27-29 region.