Linkage Disequilibrium Analysis of Polymorphisms in the Gene for Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein in Tourette's Syndrome Patients from a Chinese Sample

Abstract

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterised by multiple motor and phonic tics, which wax and wane. Recently, evidence has accumulated supporting the role of autoimmune mechanisms in the aetiology of GTS, suggesting that it is within the paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infection (PANDAS) spectrum of childhood neurobehavioural disorders. An immunopathogenic role of antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) has been suggested in this syndrome. In this study, we investigate the association of three microsatellite polymorphisms (MOGa, MOGb, MOGc) in the gene for MOG with GTS in 197 family trios collected from southwest China. Linkage disequilibrium between these three markers was observed with the strongest between MOGa and MOGc (D′=0.541, P = 0.000). We did not find overall significant evidence for distorted transmission of any of these three markers of MOG gene in GTS, although we observed a weak preferential transmission of the 148 bp allele of MOGc (χ2 = 4.000, P = 0.046) which did not survive correction for multiple testing. Our results suggest that there is no association between the MOG gene polymorphisms we tested and GTS. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.