Analysis of the Patterns of Inheritance of Splenomegaly and Serum IgM Levels in the Watut of Papua New Guinea

Document Type

Article

Authors

S. W. Serjeantson, Australian National University
G. G. Crane, Concord Repatriation Hospital, Australia

Abstract

Hyperreactive malarious splenomegaly (HMS) reflects abnormal immune responses to malarial infection. The central question is whether HMS results from unusual patterns of malarial infection or from immune incompetence in the host. Family distributions of two features of the syndrome, splenomegaly and excessively high IgM levels, have been examined in a Papua New Guinea population in which HMS is exceptionally common. Segregation analysis of spleen grade shows that a major sex-linked gene controls hyperresponsiveness to malaria. This finding is supported by additional segregation analysis, which shows that an autosomal locus cannot account for a significant proportion of variation in spleen grade, and by path analysis, which rejects a model that assumes that parents contribute equally to the child’s genotype. The sex-linked gene contributing to HMS was not mediated through sex linkage of a major gene for IgM concentrations, as shown by segregation analysis. It has yet to be determined whether this pattern of inheritance also applies to HMS occurring sporadically in other less severely affected populations. The applicability of these findings to the general variability in “normal” IgM responses to malaria also remains to be established.

Recommended Citation

Serjeantson, S. W. and Crane, G. G. (1991) "Analysis of the Patterns of Inheritance of Splenomegaly and Serum IgM Levels in the Watut of Papua New Guinea," Human Biology: Vol. 63: Iss. 2, Article 1.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol63/iss2/1