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The role of the X chromosome in infectious diseases.

Megan HayVinod KumarIsis Ricaño-Ponce
Published in: Briefings in functional genomics (2021)
Many infectious diseases in humans present with a sex bias. This bias arises from a combination of environmental factors, hormones and genetics. In this study, we review the contribution of the X chromosome to the genetic factor associated with infectious diseases. First, we give an overview of the X-linked genes that have been described in the context of infectious diseases and group them in four main pathways that seem to be dysregulated in infectious diseases: nuclear factor kappa-B, interleukin 2 and interferon γ cascade, toll-like receptors and programmed death ligand 1. Then, we review the infectious disease associations in existing genome-wide association studies (GWAS) from the GWAS Catalog and the Pan-UK Biobank, describing the main associations and their possible implications for the disease. Finally, we highlight the importance of including the X chromosome in GWAS analysis and the importance of sex-specific analysis.
Keyphrases
  • infectious diseases
  • nuclear factor
  • toll like receptor
  • copy number
  • genome wide association
  • genome wide
  • dendritic cells
  • gene expression
  • transcription factor
  • case control