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Reply to Ostrovosky et al.

Leukemia volume 22, page 1632 (2008)Cite this article

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In their response, Ostrovsky et al.1 suggest the lack of concordance between their findings and our findings may reflect differences between the populations studied. As stated by Ostrovsky et al.,1 their patient and control populations were heterogeneous, including individuals from several Jewish and non-Jewish ethnic groups. In contrast, all of the patient and control individuals included in our study2 were of Northern Irish origin. Due to its geographical isolation and historically low levels of inward migration, the population of Northern Ireland may be considered to be genetically more homogeneous relative to other populations, such as the Israeli population, studied by Ostrovosky et al. As such, we suggest that the influence of genetic factors predisposing to complex conditions, such as ALL, may be more apparent in our population.

The different allele frequencies of the Arg307Lys SNP reported for healthy control populations in the two studies by Ostrovosky et al.3, 4 require further explanation. Ostrovsky et al.1 suggest that these differences are related to the ethnic composition of the control populations recruited. Their initial study,3 included healthy individuals from four Israeli Jewish populations (Ashkenazi, North African, Mediterranean and Near Eastern). The allele frequencies for the Arg307Lys SNP were similar in each of these populations and comparable to our data for healthy individuals in the Northern Ireland population (Arg/Lys; 74.44/25.56%)2 and to allele frequencies for European populations listed on the NCBI SNP database.5 In their subsequent study,4 Ostrovsky et al.1 point out that the healthy control group included the four Israeli Jewish populations mentioned above plus individuals from other Jewish and non-Jewish populations. In this study, the allele frequency reported was substantially different (Arg/Lys; 83.49/16.51%).4 Ostrovsky et al. do not provide information on the ethnic breakdown of this group but their results suggest a very different allele frequency in the additional Jewish and non-Jewish populations included in this study.

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References

  1. Ostrovsky O, Korostishevsky M, Nagler A . Reply to: ‘Lack of association of the heparanase gene single nucleotide polymorphism Arg307Lys with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in patients from Northern Ireland’ by Winter et al. Leukemia 2008; advance online publication 28 February 2008.

  2. Winter PC, McMullin MF, Catherwood MA . Lack of association of the heparanase gene single nucleotide polymorphism Arg307Lys with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in patients from Northern Ireland. Leukemia 2008; advance online publication 28 February 2008.

  3. Ostrovsky O, Korostishevsky M, Levite I, Leiba M, Galski H, Gazit E et al. Characterization of HPSE gene single nucleotide polymorphisms in Jewish populations of Israel. Acta Haematol 2007; 117: 57–64.

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  4. Ostrovsky O, Korostishevsky M, Levite I, Leiba M, Galski H, Vlodavsky I et al. Association of heparanase gene (HPSE) single nucleotide polymorphisms with hematological malignancies. Leukemia 2007; 21: 2296–2303.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. NCBI SNP database at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/SNP/ (date accessed: 10/01/08).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Haematology, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

    P C Winter, M F McMullin & M A Catherwood

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  1. P C Winter
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  2. M F McMullin
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  3. M A Catherwood
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Correspondence to P C Winter.

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Winter, P., McMullin, M. & Catherwood, M. Reply to Ostrovosky et al.. Leukemia 22, 1632 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2008.38

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