ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In a previous study, a patient suffering from linear frontoparietal scleroderma and some of his family members were found to have an incomplete functional deficiency of the second component (C2) of complement (C). In this study, the proband and the rest of his family members were investigated for functional deficiencies of C2 and the fourth component of C (C4). A search for null alleles of C2 (C2*Q0) and C4 (C4*Q0) was made to find out whether their occurrence is responsible for incomplete functional deficiencies. HLA analysis was performed to find out whether deficiencies are linked to HLA alleles known to be associated with C4*Q0 and C2*Q0. Possible large deletions at C4 and 21-hydroxylase (21-OH) gene loci were also investigated in some family members. OBSERVATIONS: The proband had a combined functional deficiency of C4 and C2. Some of his family members had a partial functional deficiency of C4, some of C2 and some of C4 and C2; none had null alleles of C2 (C2*Q0), factor B (B*Q0) or C4B (C4B*Q0). C4*Q0 or functional C4 deficiency in this family was not associated with HLA-A1;B8;DR3 alleles. C2 deficiency was also not associated with HLA antigens known to be associated with type I and II C2 deficiencies. No gene deletion or unusual polymorphism at C4A and 21-OHA loci could be seen by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) studies. CONCLUSIONS: Combined and isolated partial functional deficiencies of C4 and C2 observed in the proband and many of his family members were not caused by C activation or null alleles. They were not linked to HLA system and were reminiscent of those observed previously in a family in which C4 deficiency was determined by a gene not linked to the HLA system.
