Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 gene polymorphisms do not contribute to Graves' disease in Chinese patients

In order to study the association of G241R polymorphism of ICAM-1 gene with an earlier onset of Graves' disease (GD) and the susceptibility of K469E polymorphism to Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) in Chinese population.

A case-control and replication study was performed in 212 GD patients and 204 healthy subjects to analyze the genotypes. Furthermore the distribution of ICAM-1 genotypes was investigated in subgroups of patients with GD according to the onset age and the ophthalmopathy.

No G241R polymorphism of ICAM-1 gene was detected in Chinese. No significant differences of allele and genotype frequencies regarding K469E polymorphism were found between GD patients and healthy controls (chi2 = 0.092, P = 0.762; chi2 = 1.089, P = 0.580). In addition, the genotype-phenotype correlation was not identified either.

We found no association of G241R and K469E polymorphisms of the ICAM-1gene with the development of GD in a Chinese population. However, we could not rule out possible contributions of other polymorphisms of the ICAM-1gene to the pathogenesis of GD. Therefore, further studies are needed to elucidate the role of ICAM-1gene in Graves' disease in different population.