Publication: A three-base-deletion polymorphism in the upstream non-coding region of human interleukin 7 (IL-7) gene could enhance levels of IL-7 expression
Issued Date
2007-04-01
Resource Type
ISSN
1744313X
17443121
17443121
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-33947289612
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Mahidol University
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SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
International Journal of Immunogenetics. Vol.34, No.2 (2007), 107-113
Suggested Citation
H. Song, E. E. Nakayama, S. Likanonsakul, C. Wasi, A. Iwamoto, T. Shioda A three-base-deletion polymorphism in the upstream non-coding region of human interleukin 7 (IL-7) gene could enhance levels of IL-7 expression. International Journal of Immunogenetics. Vol.34, No.2 (2007), 107-113. doi:10.1111/j.1744-313X.2007.00658.x Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/24225
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Title
A three-base-deletion polymorphism in the upstream non-coding region of human interleukin 7 (IL-7) gene could enhance levels of IL-7 expression
Abstract
Interleukin 7 (IL-7) is a key factor in the survival, development and proliferation of B and T lymphocytes. Elevation of plasma IL-7 has been reported in several lymphopenia cases such as HIV-1 patients. After patients started to receive antiretroviral drugs and their CD4+cell counts had recovered, IL-7 in plasma decreased to normal levels. There are considerable variations in the levels of plasma IL-7 as well as the rate of CD4+T-cell restoration. Although pre-treatment plasma IL-7 levels have been shown to be prognostic for the rate of post-treatment CD4+T-cell restoration, the mechanisms responsible for the variations in plasma IL-7 and rate of CD4+T-cell restoration are still completely unknown. In the study here, we searched for genetic polymorphisms that might affect levels of IL-7 gene expression. For this purpose, we used 1658-bp PCR-amplified fragments of the IL-7 gene containing 1470 bp of the upstream non-coding region obtained from 151 Japanese and 234 Thai subjects. We found two novel human genetic polymorphisms in the upstream non-coding region of the IL-7 gene. The luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that one of those polymorphisms could increase the gene expression of IL-7. We speculate that this polymorphism, a three base ATC deletion just upstream of an out-of-frame ATG codon in the upstream non-coding region of the IL-7 gene, reduces the efficiency of translation from the upstream, out-of-frame ATG, resulting in increased translation efficiency from the authentic ATG of IL-7. Although the frequency of this allele is very low, it would be interesting to analyse this polymorphism in HIV-1-infected individuals with different rates of immune reconstitution after treatment with a highly active antiretroviral therapy. © 2007 The Authors.