Investigation of Genetic Susceptibility to Blastomycosis Reveals Interleukin-6 as a Potential Susceptibility Locus.

ABSTRACT: Genetic differences are hypothesized to underlie ethnic disparities in incidence rates of the endemic systemic mycoses, including blastomycosis. Individuals of Hmong ancestry display elevated risk for this serious fungal infection. Here, we interrogated the genomes of Wisconsin (WI) Hmong blastomycosis patients using homozygosity mapping to uncover regions of the genome that are likely shared among the greater Hmong population and filtered for variants with high potential to affect disease susceptibility. This approach uncovered 113 candidate susceptibility variants, and among the most promising are those in genes involved in the interleukin-17 (IL-17) response. In particular, we identified 25 linked variants near the gene encoding IL-6 (IL6). We validated differences in cytokine pr

SUBMITTER: Merkhofer RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6581865 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature