Replication of associations between cytokine and cytokine receptor single nucleotide polymorphisms and measles-specific adaptive immunophenotypic extremes

Our objective was to replicate previously reported associations between cytokine and cytokine receptor SNPs and humoral and CMI (cell-mediated immune) responses to measles vaccine. All subjects (n=758) received two doses of MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine. From these subjects, candidate cytokine and cytokine receptor SNPs were genotyped and analyzed in 29-30 subjects falling into one of four "extreme" humoral (Ab(high/low)) and CMI (CMI(high/low)) response quadrants. Associations between seven SNPs (out of 11 in the discovery study) and measles-specific neutralizing antibody levels and IFN-γ ELISPOT responses were evaluated using chi-square tests. We found one replicated association for SNP rs372889 in the IL12RB1 gene (P=0.03 for Ab(high)CMI(high) vs. Ab(low)CMI(low)). Our findings demonstrate the importance of replicating genotypic-phenotypic associations, which can be achieved using immunophenotypic extremes and smaller sample sizes. We speculate that IL12RB1 polymorphisms may affect IL-12 and IL-23 binding and downstream effects, which are critical cytokines in the CMI response to measles vaccine.