Relationship Between The Erythrocyte Complement Receptor 1 Genomic Density Polymorphism And Erythrocyte Immune Function In Children With Epilepsy

Objective:To study the relationship between erythrocyte complement receptor 1(ECR1) genomic density polymorphism and erythrocyte immune function in epilepsy children, trying to reveal the possible genetic mechanisms underlying erythrocyte immunological disfunction in epileptic children.Methods:Sixty children initially diagnosed as epilepsy and 60 normal controls for general health examination in pediatric outpatient in our hospital were enrolled from April 2010 to August 2010. Erythrocyte C3b receptor rosette rate and RBC immune complex rosette rate were conducted to test the immune function of red blood cell adhesion function. The CR1 genomic density polymorphism of erythrocyte from the two groups was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) using Hindâ…¢restriction enzyme.Results:(1)The ratio of RBC-C3bRR% and RBC-ICR% were significant lower in epilepsy than in normal controls (P<0.01). However, there was no difference of red cell immune function between children with generalized seizures and those with partial seizures. Similarly, no significant influence on red cell immune function by gender was found. (2) The ECR1 genotype frequencies of HH, HL, and LL were 71.7%,21.7% and 6.6% in epilepsy group, and were 75.0%,15.0% and 10.0% in control group, respectively. There were no significant difference of ECR1 genotype frequency and allele frequency between epilepsy group and the controls. The frequency of HL genotype was higher in generalized seizures subgroup than that of partial seizures subgroup (P<0.05), although there was no difference of the HH and LL genotype frequency between them. The frequencies of H or L allele in ECR1 gene were similar in different types of seizure subgroup. There were no differences of the frequencies of genotype and H/L allele between different genders in epilepsy group. (3) Compared the number of red blood cell immune rosette within and among groups of different ECR1 genotypes: The ratio of RBC-C3bRR% and RBC-ICR% were significant decreased in epileptic children with HH genotype of ECR1 than controls with the same ECR1 genotype (P<0.01). The rate of RBC-C3bRR% was decreased in epileptic children carried HL/LL genotype of ECR1 than controls with the same genotype (P<0.05) and there was no difference of RBC-ICR% rate between them. There was no difference of RBC-C3bRR% rate between HH and HL/LL genotype within epilepsy group. The RBC-ICR% rate of epileptic children carried HH genotype was decreased than those carried HL/LL genotype in epilepsy group (P<0.01). There was no significant difference of the ratio of RBC-C3bRR% and RBC-ICR% children with HH genotype and those with HL/LL genotypes within control group.Conclusion:1,Erythrocyte immune function is decreased in childhood epilepsy, indicating that some mechanisms related to red blood cell immunity may implicate in epileptic pathogenesis. 2,ECR1-HH genotype maybe one of the risk factors which facilitate erythrocyte immune disfunction under epileptic condition.