Genetic association between the rs12252 SNP of the interferon-induced transmembrane protein gene and influenza A virus infection in the Korean population.

Background: Interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3) is a potent host antiviral effector protein that blocks the invasion of various viruses, including the influenza A virus (IAV). The C allele of the rs12252 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) shows vulnerability to the pandemic 2009 H1N1 IAV in European and Asian populations.

Objective: Here, we estimated the disease susceptibility of the rs12252 SNP with the pandemic 2009 H1N1 IAV infection in the Korean population.

Results: We carried out direct sequencing of the gene and compared the genotype and allele frequencies of the rs12252 SNP of the gene in healthy Koreans and pandemic 2009 H1N1 IAV-infected patients. Notably, we observed that healthy individuals had a similar genotype distribution of the rs12252 SNP ( = 0.140) as patients. The dominant model and recessive model did not find a statistically significant difference in genotype distribution between healthy individuals and patients. In addition, the allele distribution of the rs12252 SNP of in healthy individuals and patients also showed a similar genetic distribution ( = 0.757). However, the genetic distribution of rs12252 SNP in merged patient group (Koreans and Chinese populations) showed significant association with susceptibility of pandemic 2009 IAV ( = 0.0393).

Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this was the first evaluation of the susceptibility of the pandemic 2009 H1N1 IAV in the Korean population.