title: The frequency of an IL-18-associated haplotype in Africans.
abstract: Variation within the gene for the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-18 has been associated with inter-individual differences in levels of free protein and disease risk. We investigated the frequency of function-associated IL18 gene haplotypes in an extensive sample (n=2357) of African populations from across the continent. A previously identified five tagging SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) haplotype (here designated hGTATA), known to be associated with lower levels of IL-18, was observed at a frequency of 27% in a British population of recent European ancestry, but was found at low frequency (<8%) or completely absent in African populations. Potentially protective variants may, as a consequence, be found at low frequency in African individuals and may confer a difference in disease risk.
authors.affiliation: UCL Centre for Cardiovascular Genetics, Rayne Institute, London, UK.
authors.forename: Simon R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Steve E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Humphries
authors.forename: Mark G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ekong
authors.forename: Ayele
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tarekegn
authors.forename: Endeshaw
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bekele
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Creemer
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bradman
authors.forename: Krishna R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Veeramah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: C508606:CXCL8 protein, human; D016209:Interleukin-8