Amino Acid Variation in HLA Class II Proteins Is a Major Determinant of Humoral Response to Common Viruses.

ABSTRACT: The magnitude of the human antibody response to viral antigens is highly variable. To explore the human genetic contribution to this variability, we performed genome-wide association studies of the immunoglobulin G response to 14 pathogenic viruses in 2,363 immunocompetent adults. Significant associations were observed in the major histocompatibility complex region on chromosome 6 for influenza A virus, Epstein-Barr virus, JC polyomavirus, and Merkel cell polyomavirus. Using local imputation and fine mapping, we identified specific amino acid residues in human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class II proteins as the most probable causal variants underlying these association signals. Common HLA-DRβ1 haplotypes showed virus-specific patterns of humoral-response regulation. We observed an overlap bet

SUBMITTER: Hammer C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4667104 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature