Linkage and haplotype analysis for chemokine receptors clustered on chromosome 3p21.3 and transmitted in family pedigrees with asthma and atopy.

Background And Objectives: Genomic scan analyses have suggested that the chemokine receptor cluster (CCR2, CCR3, CCR5 <300 kb span) on the short arm of chromosome 3 may contribute to susceptibility to HIV-1 infection and to the expression of a number of inflammatory diseases. Two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and a deletion in these chemokine receptors have also been found in case-control studies to be associated with susceptibility for asthma and related phenotypes. We extended these case-control studies by establishing whether these polymorphisms were in linkage and linkage disequilibrium with asthma and related phenotypes using linkage and haplotype analyses.