Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, including details on sids, causes, prevention, statistics.

The G protein beta3 subunit 825C allele is associated with sudden infant death due to infection.

Hauge Opdal S, Melien Ø, Rootwelt H, Vege A, Arnestad M, Ole Rognum T

Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Oslo, Department of Medical Biochemistry, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. siriop@ulrik.uio.no

AIM: To investigate the Gbeta3 subunit C825T polymorphism with regard to sudden unexpected infant death. The reported association between the Gbeta3s protein and increased immune cell function in humans makes this polymorphism highly interesting both with regard to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and deleterious infectious disease. METHODS: The cases investigated in the present study consist of 250 SIDS cases, 38 cases of sudden unexpected infant death due to infection and 99 living infant controls. Typing of the C825T polymorphism was performed by real-time PCR with allele-specific probes and melting curve analyses. RESULTS: The cases of infectious death have a higher percentage of both the C allele (p=0.037 compared to the SIDS cases, p=0.022 compared to the controls) and the CC genotype (p=0.05 compared to the SIDS cases, p=0.016 compared to the controls). There were no differences between SIDS cases and controls. CONCLUSION: The observed association between the 825C allele and infectious death may indicate that the presence of the 825T allele exerts a protective effect towards serious infection, possibly through enhanced G protein signalling. The C allele, on the other hand, appears to represent a disadvantage in this regard.

Published 29 August 2006 in Acta Paediatr, 95(9): 1129-32.
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