Association of TNF-alpha; gene promoter region polymorphisms in bovine leukemia virus (BLV) infected cattle with different proviral loads

LENDEZ, PAMELA A.; PASSUCCI, JUAN; POLI, MARIO ANDRÉS; GUTIERREZ, SILVINA; DOLCINI, GUILLERMINA; CERIANI, CAROLINA

ARCHIVES OF VIROLOGY

SPRINGER WIEN

Lugar: Viena; Año: 2015 vol. 160 p. 2001 - 2007

0304-8608

TNF-alpha is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in the immune response against viral infections, among others. Its levels of expression are regulated by a polymorphism in the promoter region of the gene. The bovine leukemia virus is a retrovirus that infects cattle and develops two different infection profiles in the host. One profile is characterized by a high number of proviral copies integrated into the host genome and a strong immune response against the virus, while the most relevant property of the other profile is that the number of copies integrated into the host genome is almost undetectable and the immune response is very weak. We selected a statistically significant population of cattle and classified them into high or low proviral load (HPL or LPL). Polymorphism of the promoter region was determined by PCR-RFLP. The results indicate that in the HPL group the three possible genotypes are normally distributed,and that among the LPL group there is a significant association between the proviral load and the low frequency of the G/G genotype in position -824.