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Polymorphism of FCGR3A gene in chronic beryllium disease

Genes & Immunity volume 20, pages 493–499 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Previously we showed that alveolar macrophages (AMs) from patients with chronic beryllium disease (CBD) and beryllium sensitization (BeS) demonstrated significantly greater cell surface CD16 (encoded by the FCGR3A gene) than controls. We hypothesized that these differences were related to polymorphisms in the FCGR3A gene. This study was to determine the association between FCGR3A polymorphisms in CBD, BeS versus controls as well as clinical data, providing potential information about disease pathogenesis, risk, and activity. A total of 189 CBD/154 BeS/150 controls (92 Be-exposed non-diseased and 58 healthy controls) were included in this study. Sequence-specific primers polymerase chain reaction (PCR-SSP) was used to determine FCGR3A 158V/F polymorphisms. We found significantly higher frequencies of the 158V allele (OR: 1.60 (CI: 1.17–2.19), p = 0.004) and 158VV homozygotes (OR: 2.97 (CI: 1.48–5.97) p = 0.007) in CBD versus controls. No differences were found in the frequencies of FCGR3A alleles or genotypes between BeS versus controls and CBD versus BeS. Average changes in exercise testing maximum workload (Wlm), maximum oxygen consumption (VO2m), and diffusion capacity of carbon monoxide (DLCO) demonstrated greater decline over time in those CBD cases with the 158VV gene, modeled between 10 and 40 years from first beryllium exposure. The FCGR3A V158F polymorphism is associated with CBD compared to BeS and controls and may impact lung function in CBD.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Institutes of Health 1R01ES025722-01A1, 1K01ES020857-01, P01ES11810, UL1TR001082, and ES023826-01A1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Department of Medicine, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, USA

    Bing Liu, Lisa A. Maier, Nabeel Hamzeh, Kristyn MacPhail, Margaret M. Mroz, Hongbo Liu & Li Li

  2. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Sciences, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Denver, CO, USA

    Lisa A. Maier, Nabeel Hamzeh & Li Li

  3. Environmental Occupational Health Department, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA

    Lisa A. Maier

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  1. Bing Liu
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Correspondence to Li Li.

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Liu, B., Maier, L.A., Hamzeh, N. et al. Polymorphism of FCGR3A gene in chronic beryllium disease. Genes Immun 20, 493–499 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41435-018-0046-8

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