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 IFITM3 gene and compared the genotype and allele frequencies of the rs12252 SNP of the IFITM3 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 (P = 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 (P = 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 (P = 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.