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Gaucher disease: N370S glucocerebrosidase gene frequency in the Portuguese population
Author(s) -
Lacerda L.,
Amaral O.,
Pinto R.,
Oliveira P.,
Aerts J.,
Miranda M. C. Sá
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
clinical genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.543
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1399-0004
pISSN - 0009-9163
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-0004.1994.tb04034.x
Subject(s) - glucocerebrosidase , genetics , mutation , allele frequency , allele , population , disease , gene , biology , phenotype , mutation frequency , medicine , environmental health
In the Portuguese population the most frequent form of Gaucher disease is type 1. The N370S glucocerebrosidase gene mutation accounts for 63% of mutated alleles. The frequency of this mutation was accurately determined in the Portuguese population, which does not present an Ashkenazi Jewish genetic background. A gene frequency of 0.0043, with 95% confidence limits between 0.0023 and 0.0063, was obtained studying the genomic DNA of 2000 blood cards randomly sampled from the national neonatal screening program. On the basis of this frequency a significantly high number of homozygotes for the N370S mutation should be expected in the Portuguese population. This finding supports the idea that the majority of homozygotes for this mutation present a very mild clinical phenotype and remain undiagnosed.