title: Genetic influences on plasma cytokine variation in a parasitized population.
abstract: The soil-transmitted helminths are the most common helminthic infections, affecting about one-fourth of the world's population. There is a significant genetic component to susceptibility to infection with these organisms. Substantial changes in plasma cytokine levels are associated with helminthic infections, and there may be significant genetic components to this cytokine variation. Six plasma cytokine levels were assessed for 367 members of a single pedigree from the Jirel population of eastern Nepal. This population experiences moderate rates of infection with geohelminths. Sex, age, helminthic infection, infection with Giardia, and presence of a household latrine were considered as covariates in all analyses of the cytokine data. The analyses of the single Jirel pedigree revealed significant heritabilities for IFN-gamma (h2 = 0.654+/-0.096), TNF-alpha (h2 = 0.458+/-0.101), IL-2 (h2 = 0.583+/-0.101), IL-4 (h2 = 0.700+/-0.095), IL-5 (h2 = 0.676+/-0.087), and IL-10 (h2 = 0.597+/-0.093). The ratios of IL-4 to IFN-gamma and of IL-10 to IFN-gamma were used as indicators of the degree of type 2 bias in immunological response; analyses of these variables indicated that approximately 40-60% of the variation (h2 = 0.400-0.577) in these derived measures of relative type 2/type 1 response is due to genetic factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, TX 78245-0549, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Williams-Blangero
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corrêa-Oliveira
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vandeberg
authors.forename: Janardan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Subedi
authors.forename: Ram Prasad
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Upadhayay
authors.forename: Dev Raj
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Rai
authors.forename: Bharat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jha
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blangero
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D017164:Ascaris lumbricoides / Q000469:parasitology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000208:ethnology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005872:Giardia / Q000469:parasitology; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology; D010641:Phenotype; D012307:Risk Factors; D012499:Sanitation; D012987:Soil / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D012987:Soil