Genetic study of ICAM1 in clinical malaria in Senegal.

Many genes have been implicated in the risk of severe malaria, generally based on candidate gene studies in case/control populations. Among these genes, there has been conflicting reports for the implication of a variant of the intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM1), ICAM1(Kilifi), in the risk of severe malaria, while in vitro studies provided independent support for a functional role of this variant. In order to explore the possible implication of ICAM1 in the susceptibility/resistance to malaria and to try to understand its clinical relevance in the disease process, we have conducted linkage and association studies of ICAM1 in two Senegalese villages located in regions of endemic malaria. We explored the full genetic variability of ICAM1, and tested it on several clinical malarial traits which are under genetic control, focusing principally on variables related to the parasite density and the number of malarial attacks. Our study provides no evidence for a role of ICAM1 variability on the malarial phenotypes studied.