Genomic scale analysis of racial impact on response to IFN-alpha.

ABSTRACT: Limited responsiveness to IFN-alpha in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected African-Americans compared to European Americans (AAs vs. EAs) hinders the management of HCV. Here, we studied healthy non-HCV-infected AA and EA subjects to test whether immune cell response to IFN-alpha is determined directly by race. We compared baseline and IFN-alpha-induced signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-1, STAT-2, STAT-3, STAT-4, and STAT-5 protein and phosphorylation levels in purified T cells, global transcription, and a genomewide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profile of healthy AA and EA blood donors. In contrast to HCV-infected individuals, healthy AAs displayed no evidence of reduced STAT activation or IFN-alpha-stimulated gene expression compared to EAs. Although >200 genes

SUBMITTER: Pos Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2818915 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature