Inflammatory Gene Variants in the Tsimane,an Indigenous Bolivian Population with a High Infectious Load

摘要

The Tsimane of lowland Bolivia are an indigenous forager-fanner population living under conditions resembling pre-industrial European populations, with high infectious morbidity, high infection and inflammation, and shortened life expectancy. Analysis of 917 persons ages 5 to 60~+ showed that allele frequencies of 9 SNPs examined in the apolipoprotein E (apoE), C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleuk-in-6 (IL-6) genes differed from some European, African, and north Asian-derived populations. The apoE2 allele was absent, whereas four SNPs related to CRP and IL-6 were monomorphic: CRP (rsl800947, rs3093061, and rs3093062) and IL-6 (rsl800795). No significant differences in apoE, CRP, and IL-6 variants across age were found CRP levels were higher in carriers of two CRP proin-flammatory SNPs, whereas they were lower in carriers of apoE4. Taken together, the evidence for (1) different allele frequencies between the Tsimane and other populations and (2) the correlations of CRP and apoE alkies with blood CRP may suggest that these variants are under selection in response to a high infection environment.