The first association study of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the gene with influenza H1N1 2009 pandemic virus infection.

BACKGROUND

The interferon-induced transmembrane (IFITM) protein family consists of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) that show potent antiviral capacity against a broad range of viruses. Many studies have been performed to investigate an association between polymorphisms and pandemic influenza A 2009 H1N1 virus infection. However, an association study of polymorphisms with susceptibility to this infection has not been reported thus far.

OBJECTIVE

To identify an association between the susceptibility to pandemic influenza A 2009 H1N1 virus infection and polymorphisms, we compared genotype, allele and haplotype frequencies of the gene between healthy controls and pandemic influenza A 2009 H1N1-infected patients. In addition, we investigated linkage disequilibrium (LD) by Haploview 4.2 and the binding ability of transcription factors according to polymorphism alleles by PROMO. Furthermore, we measured the LD value between the gene and the gene.

RESULTS

We found 3 novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and did not find an association between SNPs and susceptibility to pandemic influenza A 2009 H1N1 virus infection. We found strong LD among SNPs but did not find a difference in the transcription factor-binding ability according to regulatory SNP alleles. In addition, we found strong LD between SNPs and SNPs.

CONCLUSION

To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first association study of the susceptibility to pandemic influenza A 2009 H1N1 virus infection and polymorphisms.