HLA alleles and type 1 diabetes mellitus in low disease incidence populations of Southern Europe: A comparison of Greeks and Albanians

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) is caused by environmental factors acting on genetically susceptible individuals. HLA-DQA1 and -DQB1 are major genetic determinants of the disease. Greece and Albania represent the low DM1 incidence countries of South-Eastern Europe. The HLA-DQA1 and -DQB1 associations with DM1 were investigated in these two groups, as reference for comparisons to the high-risk populations of Northern Europe. One hundred and thirty Greeks and 64 Albanians with DM1 were studied; 1,842 Greeks and 186 Albanians were analysed as controls. The samples were typed for six HLA-DQB1 alleles, using time-resolved fluorometry to detect the hybridisation of lanthanide labelled oligonucleotides with PCR products. Individuals positive for DQB1* 0201 were selectively typed for three DQA1 alleles. In both populations DQB1*0201 increased the risk for DM1 while DQB1*0301 was protective. DQB1*0302 was associated with lower risk than * 0201, while *0602 and *0603 were protective in Greeks but not in Albanians. It was also shown that DQA1 has a modifying effect, altering the risk conferred by the susceptible DQB1*0201. The low incidence of DM1 in these two countries correlates with the high frequency of the protective allele DQB1*0301 and the low impact of the susceptible DQB1*0302. © Freund Publishing House Ltd., London

16P Subtelomeric Duplication With Vascular Anomalies: An Albanian Case Report And Literature Review

A patient with karyotype 46,XY,der(4) was recognized by standard cytogenetic techniques, and presented with facial features, neurological impairment and pulmonary hypertension. Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) demonstrated duplication of the subtelomeric region of chromosome 16p and deletion of the subtelomeric region of chromosome 4q, suggesting a translocation between 4q and 16p. The karyotype of his parents was normal and their MLPA analysis also indicated a de novo imbalance. He had microcephaly, high frontal hairline, thin blond hair, bilateral blepharophimosis and palpebral ptosis, short nose, everted upper lip, cleft palate, micrognathia, cupped anteverted ears, hypoplastic distal phalanges and bilateral inguinal hernia. He also had pulmonary hypertension with tricuspidal regurgitation; cavernous liver hemangioma anomalies have been previously described in association with dup16p. We concluded that pulmonary and other vascular anomalies can be a feature of dup16p. We believe this is the first confirmed case of a 16p subtelomeric duplication with vascular anomalies identified in Albania