A study of haptoglobin phenotypes in patients with chronic renal failure.

Abstract

This study has investigated the association between haptoglobin (Hp) polymorphism and the occurrence of chronic renal failure (CRF) in Jordanians. Blood specimens were collected from 159 patients with CRF resulting from various predisposing conditions and from 200 healthy unrelated controls. Hp phenotyping was conducted using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The Hp 2-2 phenotype was over-represented in CRF patients in general (0.547), patients with hypertension (0.622) and patients with diabetes mellitus (0.633). The Hp 2-1 phenotype was over-represented in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (0.549) and patients with reflux nephropathy (0.445). In patients with polycystic kidney disease (PKD), only Hp 2-1 and Hp 2-2 were detected, occurring at a frequency of 0.214 and 0.786, respectively. The frequency of Hp 2 allele in PKD patients was 0.893 compared with 0.706 in the control group. Hp-type distribution was in agreement with the expectations of a population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in all groups except for the hypertensive patients. Haptoglobin homozygosity seems to represent a possible risk factor for CRF in hypertensive, diabetic and PKD patients; Hp heterozygosity may lead to chronic glomerulonephritis.