Objective: To investigate the relationship between haplotypes of multilocus markers and ankylosing spondylitis (AS).
Methods: Five families with AS were recruited from Shanghai area. Eleven microsatellite markers around D6S276 were analyzed by Linkage package and by Cyrillic package.
Results: Fine linkage analysis showed the significant Lod score values with D6S276 was 3.8821, Lod score values with D6S1691 and D6S1618 near D6S276 were larger than 1.5. The crossover value in 5 pedigrees was 14%. The haplotype analysis showed that the regions between D6S1691 and D6S1618 were associated with AS.
Conclusion: The regions of D6S1691-D6S276-D6S1618 may harbor a susceptible gene of AS. The specific haplotypes of different pedigrees may play an important role in the presymptomatic diagnosis for AS.