Interleukin-12B Gene Polymorphism Frequencies in Egyptians and Sex-Related Susceptibility to Hepatitis C Infection

Systematic review reveals multiple sexually antagonistic polymorphisms affecting human disease and complex traits

An evolutionary model for sex differences in disease risk posits that alleles conferring higher risk in one sex may be protective in the other. These sexually antagonistic (SA) alleles are predicted to be maintained at frequencies higher than expected under purifying selection against unconditionally deleterious alleles, but there are apparently no examples in humans. Discipline-specific terminology, rather than a genuine lack of such alleles, could explain this disparity. We undertook a two-stage review of evidence for SA polymorphisms in humans using search terms from (i) evolutionary biology and (ii) biomedicine. Although the first stage returned no eligible studies, the second revealed 51 genes with sex-opposite effects; 22 increased disease risk or severity in one sex but protected the other. Those with net positive effects occurred at higher frequencies. None were referred to as SA. Our review reveals significant communication barriers to fields as a result of discipline-specific terminology.

Genetic variants in IL4RA, IL6, and IL12B genes and susceptibility to hepatitis B and C virus infections among Iraqi patients

Hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV) are common causative pathogens of viral hepatitis. Progression of both infections is determined by virus- and host-related factors. Cytokines are important host genetic factors that may have a predisposing role in HBV and HCV infections. This case-control study evaluated the genetic association of IL4RA+1902 (rs1801275), IL6-174 (rs1800795), IL6-597 (rs1800797), and IL12B-1188 (rs3212227) variants with chronic HBV and HCV infections among Iraqi patients. A total of 220 viral hepatitis patients were enrolled in the study (113 HBV and 107 HCV), together with 141 healthy subjects. Sequence-specific primer polymerase chain reaction assay was the genotyping method. Results revealed that under a dominant genetic model, IL6-174 variant was significantly associated with HBV infection, whereas no association with the HCV risk was reported. However, the risk for both infections was markedly associated with IL6-597 variant under recessive, dominant, and codominant genetic models. Estimation of IL6-174 -IL6-597 haplotypes depicted that G-A haplotype was significantly associated with an increased risk to develop HBV infection, whereas a significantly decreased risk was associated with G-G and C-G haplotypes. For HCV, G-G and C-A haplotypes were significantly associated with risk of HCV infection. IL4RA+1902 and IL12B-1188 variants showed no association with HBV or HCV risk. Analysis of variance revealed no significant association between genotypes of the four determined single-nucleotide polymorphisms and HBV or HCV viral load. In conclusion, the study supports the concept that IL6-597 variant is associated with susceptibility to HBV and HCV infections among Iraqis. The risk of HBV infection is further associated with IL6-174 variant.

Genetic Susceptibility in Family Members of Egyptian Hepatitis C Virus Infected Patients: Role of Interleukin-12 B Gene Polymorphism

AIM

The research was conducted to study 1188 A\C polymorphism of Interleukin (IL)-12B gene for C/C, A/C and A/A genotypes in families of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients in Egypt.

METHODS

Three hundreds HCV patients, 860 family members and 100 healthy subjects were studied. All family members were screened for HCV antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Positive cases were examined using Real-Time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to confirm the presence of HCV ribonucleic acid (RNA) and detect the viral load. Molecular study of IL-12B gene was carried out on all patients, family members and controls using PCR and restriction enzyme analysis.

RESULTS

HCV infection was confirmed in 10.6% of family members. The distribution of IL-12B gene polymorphism in patients was 2.3%, 45.7% and 52% for C/C, A/C and A/A genotypes respectively, in infected family members was 3.3%, 41.7%, 55%, in noninfected family members was 4.5%, 43.5% and 52% for C/C, A/C and A/A genotypes respectively and in control was 5%, 36% and 59% for C/C, A/C and A/A genotypes respectively. The frequency of the C/C, A/C and A/A genotype was not significantly different between the studied groups.

CONCLUSION

IL-12B gene polymorphism has no role in intrafamilial susceptibility of HCV transmission. The distribution of the functional 1188 A\C polymorphism of Interleukin (IL)-12B gene for C/C, A/C and A/A genotypes was not significantly different among the studied groups.

Immunogenetics of new onset diabetes after transplantation in Kuwait

Introduction and aim: New onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT) is a serious metabolic complication following kidney transplantation. Although beta-cell dysfunction is considered the main contributing factor in the development of this complication, its exact etiology is yet to be identified. We aimed to investigate NODAT among kidney transplant cohort in Kuwait with special stress on correlation between its risk factors and interferon gamma genotyping. Materials and methods: We surveyed 309 kidney transplant recipients from Hamed Al Essa Transplantation Centre, Kuwait. The participants were categorized into cohorts according to the development of NODAT diagnosed based on the American Diabetes Association guidelines. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software. We genotyped interferon gamma as the leading immunosignature for T lymphocyte. Results: No relationship between ethnicity and the development of NODAT was identified. However, there was a significant difference in age between cohorts. Younger patients demonstrated a lower rate of NODAT while, NODAT reached its maximum in 40-60-year age group. IFNG TT genotype was significantly associated with NODAT (p=0.005), while IFNG AA was considerably higher in the non-NODAT group. Conclusion: Beside the conventional contributing factors of NODAT, our results might represent a suitable platform for a larger cytokine and chemokine spectrum genotyping.

Polymorphisms on IFNG, IL12B and IL12RB1 genes and paracoccidioidomycosis in the Brazilian population

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a systemic chronic mycosis, endemic in Latin America, especially Brazil, and is the eighth leading cause of death among chronic and recurrent infectious diseases. PCM infection is characterized by the presence of Th1 immune response; the acute form, by a mixed Th2/Th9, while the chronic form is characterized by Th17/Th22 profiles. The occurrence and severity of human PCM may also be associated with genetic factors such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) on cytokines encoding genes. We investigated the association between these polymorphisms and the different clinical forms of PCM. We included 156 patients with PCM (40 with the acute form, 99 with the chronic multifocal and 17 with the chronic unifocal form) and assayed their DNA samples for IFNG +874 T/A SNP by PCR-ARMS (Amplification Refractory Mutational System), IL12B +1188 A/C SNP on 3' UTR and IL12RB1 641 A/G SNP on exon 7 by PCR-RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism). We found similar genotypic and allelic frequencies of the investigated SNPs among the clinical forms of PCM. Considering male patients, the IL12RB1 641 AA genotype was more frequent in the chronic multifocal form while heterozygosis was in the chronic unifocal form of PCM (p=0.048). Although our data suggest that the AA genotype (IL12RB1) may be associated with the more disseminated chronic disease, more patients of the chronic unifocal PCM group need to be analyzed as well as the secretion patterns of IFN-γ combined with the IL-12Rβ1 expression for a better comprehension of this association.

Association of IL-12A and IL-12B polymorphisms with Alzheimer's disease susceptibility in a Han Chinese population

As a pro-inflammatory cytokine belonging to the interleukin (IL)-1 family, IL-12 is recently found to be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we investigated the relations of three potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL-12A (rs2243115 and rs568408) and IL-12B (rs3212227) with late-onset AD (LOAD) risk in a Northern Han Chinese cohort containing 1133 patients and 1158 healthy controls. Our findings indicated that these SNPs in IL-12A and IL-12B can individually and jointly contribute to LOAD risk in Han Chinese, implying that the genes encoding IL-12 subunits represent novel genetic risk factors for LOAD susceptibility.

Interleukin-27 is differentially associated with HIV viral load and CD4+ T cell counts in therapy-naïve HIV-mono-infected and HIV/HCV-co-infected Chinese

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and the resultant Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic are major global health challenges; hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection has made the HIV/AIDS epidemic even worse. Interleukin-27 (IL-27), a cytokine which inhibits HIV and HCV replication in vitro, associates with HIV infection and HIV/HCV co-infection in clinical settings. However, the impact of HIV and HCV viral loads on plasma IL-27 expression levels has not been well characterized. In this study, 155 antiretroviral therapy-naïve Chinese were recruited. Among them 80 were HIV- and HCV-negative healthy controls, 45 were HIV-mono-infected and 30 were HIV/HCV-co-infected. Plasma level HIV, HCV, IL-27 and CD4+ number were counted and their correlation, regression relationships were explored. We show that: plasma IL-27 level was significantly upregulated in HIV-mono-infected and HIV/HCV-co-infected Chinese; HIV viral load was negatively correlated with IL-27 titer in HIV-mono-infected subjects whereas the relationship was opposite in HIV/HCV-co-infected subjects; and the relationships between HIV viral loads, IL-27 titers and CD4+ T cell counts in the HIV mono-infection and HIV/HCV co-infection groups were dramatically different. Overall, our results suggest that IL-27 differs in treatment-naïve groups with HIV mono-infections and HIV/HCV co-infections, thereby providing critical information to be considered when caring and treating those with HIV mono-infection and HIV/HCV co-infection.