Disease relevance of African Americans

• A mutation (CCR2-64I) within the first transmembrane region of the CCR2 chemokine and HIV-1 receptor gene is described that occurred at an allele frequency of 10 to 15 percent among Caucasians and African Americans [1].
• However, among younger women, African Americans continued at increased risk despite adjustment for these variables as well as smoking, plasma cholesterol, renal function, alcohol use, and myocardial infarction (adjusted RR = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.00 to 2.21) [2].
• Polymorphism of glutathione S-transferase M1 and lung cancer risk among African-Americans and Caucasians in Los Angeles County, California [3].
• A common cardiac sodium channel variant associated with sudden infant death in African Americans, SCN5A S1103Y [4].
• Similar high blood pressure accompanied by a low systemic renin state was described in some patients, especially in hypertensive African Americans who are resistant to treatment by blockers of the systemic RAS [5].

Psychiatry related information on African Americans

• CONCLUSIONS: Bupropion SR was effective for smoking cessation among African Americans and may be useful in reducing the health disparities associated with smoking [6].
• Serum cholesterol, APOE genotype, and the risk of Alzheimer's disease: a population-based study of African Americans [7].
• Physical activity and NIDDM in African-Americans. The Pitt County Study [8].
• Prevalence of major depressive disorder was significantly higher in Whites than in African Americans and Mexican Americans; the opposite pattern was found for dysthymic disorder [9].
• Prostate cancer in African Americans: relationship of patient and partner self-efficacy to quality of life [10].

High impact information on African Americans

• These mutations were common in African Americans (combined frequency, 2%) but rare in European Americans (<0.1%) and were associated with a 40% reduction in plasma levels of LDL cholesterol [11].
• CYP3A5 was more frequently expressed in livers of African Americans (60%) than in those of Caucasians (33%) [12].
• The APOE-epsilon4 allele and the risk of Alzheimer disease among African Americans, whites, and Hispanics [13].
• The APOE epsilon4-AD association was weaker among African Americans and Hispanics, but there was significant heterogeneity in ORs among studies of African Americans (P<.03) [14].
• Here we studied SCN5A in African Americans [4].

Chemical compound and disease context of African Americans

• Cystic fibrosis (CF)--an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and characterized by abnormal chloride conduction across epithelial membranes, leading to chronic lung and exocrine pancreatic disease--is less common in African-Americans than in Caucasians [15].
• The -3.7-kilobase alpha-thalassemia deletion accounted for about one third of the difference in the hemoglobin levels of African-Americans and whites and neither sickle trait nor elevated creatinine levels had an effect [16].
• PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of lovastatin in African Americans (AA) diagnosed with primary hypercholesterolemia [17].
• CONCLUSION: Ramipril treatment was associated with a significantly lower risk of DM in African Americans with hypertensive kidney disease than amlodipine or metoprolol treatment [18].
• It was concluded that over 6 months, captopril reduces and isradipine increases proteinuria in African Americans with NIDDM and nephropathy [19].

Biological context of African Americans

• Relative risk of Alzheimer disease and age-at-onset distributions, based on APOE genotypes among elderly African Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics in New York City [20].
• Fourth, in contrast to that seen in whites, the SNP ATL1 was in linkage equilibrium among African Americans, and it did not add new information to the STR haplotypes [21].
• Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT; S-adenosyl-L-methionine:thiopurine S-methyltransferase, EC 2.1.1.67) activity exhibits genetic polymorphism, with approximately 0.33% of Caucasians and African-Americans inheriting TPMT deficiency as an autosomal recessive trait [22].
• Significant admixture linkage disequilibrium across 30 cM around the FY locus in African Americans [23].
• Here an analysis is presented of the roles of recombination and mutation in shaping previously determined haplotype variation in 9.7 kb of genomic DNA sequence from the human lipoprotein lipase gene (LPL), scored in 71 individuals from three populations: 24 African Americans, 24 Finns, and 23 non-Hispanic whites [24].

Anatomical context of African Americans

• T cell receptor repertoire differences between African Americans and Caucasians associated with polymorphism of the TCRBV3S1 (V beta 3.1) gene [25].
• Because the AGT gene is expressed primarily in liver and adipose tissue, and C/EBP family transcription factors play an important role in gene expression in these tissues, we propose that increased transcriptional activity of the -217A allele of the human AGT gene is associated with hypertension in African-Americans [26].
• BACKGROUND: Men are believed to have more visceral adipose tissue (VAT) than women have, but studies in African Americans that measured VAT from a single computed tomography (CT) slice found no sex difference [27].
• Cumulative evidence suggests that human immunodeficiency virus-associated nephropathy (HIVAN), the third leading cause of end-stage renal disease in African-Americans, may respond to therapeutic strategies that interrupt HIV-1 expression in infected renal epithelium [28].
• Hypertension in African Americans: the role of sodium chloride and extracellular fluid volume [29].

Associations of African Americans with chemical compounds

• To determine the contribution of this length variation to the interracial variation in plasma Lp(a) levels, we compared apo(a) allele size, glycoprotein size, and plasma Lp(a) concentrations in Caucasians, Chinese, and African Americans [30].
• The relation of insulin resistance to glucose tolerance category was consistently seen in women and men and across the three ethnic groups of the IRAS (non-Hispanic whites, African Americans, and Hispanics) [31].
• Most lipid traits showed significant estimates of heritability (P < 0.001) with the exception of triglycerides and the triglyceride/HDL ratio in African Americans [32].
• Wild type p53 encodes proline at this residue, but in <5% of African Americans, this amino acid is serine [33].
• Serum creatinine values can be used to provide a reasonably accurate estimate of GFR in hypertensive African Americans [34].

Gene context of African Americans

• The association between APOE epsilon4 and AD in African Americans requires clarification, and the attenuated effect of APOE epsilon4 in Hispanics should be investigated further [14].
• Here we report the identification of 16 additional mutations in the coding region of the CCR5 gene, all but 3 of which are codon altering or "nonsynonymous." Most mutations were rare (found only once or twice in the sample); five were detected exclusively among African Americans, whereas eight were observed only in Caucasians [35].
• Here, we characterize the sequence variation and haplotype structure of the HLA-G promoter and flanking sequences in 44 African Americans, 47 European Americans and 43 Han Chinese by haplotype-specific PCR and sequencing [36].
• We have found that alterations in a fifth member of this family, GJA1 (Cx43), appear to cause a common form of deafness in African Americans [37].
• Our results demonstrate association between AD and variants in the PON gene cluster in Caucasians and African Americans [38].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of African Americans

• TPMT genotype was determined in all individuals with TPMT activity indicative of a heterozygous genotype (</=10.1 U/ml pRBC, n = 23African-Americans, n = 21 Caucasians) and a control group with TPMT activity indicative of a homozygous wild-type genotype (>10.2 U/ml pRBC, n = 23 African-Americans, n = 21 Caucasians) [39].
• In previous analyses of transferrin saturation data in African Americans and Caucasians from the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II), subpopulations were found consistent with population genetics for common loci that influence iron metabolism [40].
• However, nondiabetic subjects with the IRS-2 Gly/Gly genotype had significantly higher 2-h oral glucose tolerance test glucose levels compared with those with Gly/Asp and Asp/Asp genotypes in whites or Gly/Asp genotype in African-Americans (there were no Asp/Asp subjects in our modest size African-American sample) [41].
• After treatment with ouabain and thrombin, the sustained posttransient levels of cytosolic free calcium increased to a greater extent in platelets from African Americans (46.7 nmol/L) than from whites (34.5 nmol/L, P = .033) [42].
• The role of CYP1A1 genotype in lung cancer risk was assessed in African Americans through a case control study [43].

References