The Role of Inducible NOS2 Gene Polymorphism in the Development of Essential Arterial Hypertension

The risk of essential arterial hypertension was assessed in carriers of the NOS2 gene variants (rs1800482 (-954G>C), rs3730017 (C>T)). In subjects carrying C allele (rs1800482), the risk for essential arterial hypertension developing was higher by 1.7 times (OR=1.712, 95%CI 1.07-2.74), while the presence of T-allele (rs3730017) had a protective effect (OR=0.304, 95%CI 0.192-0.482). In patients with essential arterial hypertension, the presence of the C allele (rs1800482) was associated with a higher content of NO metabolites in the blood plasma. A positive correlation was found between the plasma content of nitrites and nitrates and the level of transcripts of VCAM1, ICAM1 genes in peripheral blood leukocytes. We found the influence of the C allele carriership on the expression VCAM1 and ICAM1 genes in patients with essential hypertension. It was hypothesized that this polymorphic site in the NOS2 gene can be involved in the development of endothelial dysfunction and essential arterial hypertension through modulation of NO level under condition of inflammation.

Genetics of Malaria Inflammatory Responses: A Pathogenesis Perspective

Despite significant progress in combating malaria in recent years the burden of severe disease and death due to Plasmodium infections remains a global public health concern. Only a fraction of infected people develops severe clinical syndromes motivating a longstanding search for genetic determinants of malaria severity. Strong genetic effects have been repeatedly ascribed to mutations and allelic variants of proteins expressed in red blood cells but the role of inflammatory response genes in disease pathogenesis has been difficult to discern. We revisited genetic evidence provided by inflammatory response genes that have been repeatedly associated to malaria, namely TNF, NOS2, IFNAR1, HMOX1, TLRs, CD36, and CD40LG. This highlighted specific genetic variants having opposing roles in the development of distinct malaria clinical outcomes and unveiled diverse levels of genetic heterogeneity that shaped the complex association landscape of inflammatory response genes with malaria. However, scrutinizing genetic effects of individual variants corroborates a pathogenesis model where pro-inflammatory genetic variants acting in early infection stages contribute to resolve infection but at later stages confer increased vulnerability to severe organ dysfunction driven by tissue inflammation. Human genetics studies are an invaluable tool to find genes and molecular pathways involved in the inflammatory response to malaria but their precise roles in disease pathogenesis are still unexploited. Genome editing in malaria experimental models and novel genotyping-by-sequencing techniques are promising approaches to delineate the relevance of inflammatory response gene variants in the natural history of infection thereby will offer new rational angles on adjuvant therapeutics for prevention and clinical management of severe malaria.

A specific molecular signature for psoriasis and eczema

Psoriasis and eczema seem to present a specific distinctive gene expression pattern. In the Science Translation Medicine (Sci Transl Med), Quaranta et al. reported a specific molecular signature of psoriasis and eczema. By using an intraindividual genome expression analysis in patients affected by both diseases, the authors identified genes and signaling pathways that are regulated in common and that are exclusive for each disease.