Drug-induced agranulocytosis: impact of different fcgamma receptor polymorphisms?

Drug-induced agranulocytosis is a rare but life-threatening side effect which is possibly based on immunogenetic mechanisms. Some studies regarding agranulocytosis induced by the atypical antipsychotic clozapine dealing with HLA subtyping and enzyme polymorphisms have been performed to elucidate its genetic background. To further screen possibly genetically based pathways of developing agranulocytosis, we assessed clinically relevant polymorphisms of immunoglobulin G or Fcgamma receptors in patients with clozapine-induced (n = 48), ticlopidine-induced (n = 11), thyroid inhibitors-induced agranulocytosis (n = 8), and controls (n = 75). We found significant age-related effects in each of the drug-induced agranulocytoses but no further associations that underline an effect of polymorphisms in FcgammaRIIa, FcgammaRIIIa, and FcgammaRIIIb genes on drug-induced agranulocytosis. Thus, Fcgamma receptors may not serve as a genetic marker to identify patients at risk for this life-threatening side effect.