IFITM3 explained

Interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IFITM3 gene.^{[1] [2] [3]} It plays a critical role in the immune system's defense against Swine Flu, where heightened levels of IFITM3 keep viral levels low, and the removal of IFITM3 allows the virus to multiply unchecked.^[4] This observation has been further advanced by a recent study from Paul Kellam's lab that shows that a single nucleotide polymorphism in the human IFITM3 gene purported to increase influenza susceptibility is overrepresented in people hospitalised with pandemic H1N1.^[5] The prevalence of this mutation is thought to be approximately 1/400 in European populations.^{[5] [6]}

Further reading

• Vaarala MH, Porvari K, Kyllönen A, Vihko P . Differentially expressed genes in two LNCaP prostate cancer cell lines reflecting changes during prostate cancer progression . Lab. Invest. . 80 . 8 . 1259–1268 . 2000 . 10950117 . 10.1038/labinvest.3780134 . free .
• Hartley JL, Temple GF, Brasch MA . DNA cloning using in vitro site-specific recombination . Genome Res. . 10 . 11 . 1788–1795 . 2001 . 11076863 . 10.1101/gr.143000 . 310948 .
• Simpson JC . Systematic subcellular localization of novel proteins identified by large-scale cDNA sequencing . EMBO Rep. . 1 . 3 . 287–292 . 2001 . 11256614 . 10.1093/embo-reports/kvd058 . 1083732 . vanc. Wellenreuther R . Poustka A . 3 . Pepperkok . R . Wiemann . S .
• Strausberg RL . Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 26 . 16899–16903 . 2003 . 12477932 . 10.1073/pnas.242603899 . 139241 . vanc. Feingold EA . Grouse LH . 3 . Derge . JG . Klausner . RD . Collins . FS . Wagner . L . Shenmen . CM . Schuler . GD . 2002PNAS...9916899M . free .
• Gerhard DS . The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2121–2127 . 2004 . 15489334 . 10.1101/gr.2596504 . 528928 . vanc. Wagner L . Feingold EA . 3 . Shenmen . CM . Grouse . LH . Schuler . G . Klein . SL . Old . S . Rasooly . R .
• Wiemann S . From ORFeome to biology: a functional genomics pipeline . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2136–2144 . 2004 . 15489336 . 10.1101/gr.2576704 . 528930 . vanc. Arlt D . Huber W . 3 . Wellenreuther . R . Schleeger . S . Mehrle . A . Bechtel . S . Sauermann . M . Korf . U .
• Kimura K . Diversification of transcriptional modulation: large-scale identification and characterization of putative alternative promoters of human genes . Genome Res. . 16 . 1 . 55–65 . 2006 . 16344560 . 10.1101/gr.4039406 . 1356129 . vanc. Wakamatsu A . Suzuki Y . 3 . Ota . T . Nishikawa . T . Yamashita . R . Yamamoto . J . Sekine . M . Tsuritani . K .
• Mehrle A . The LIFEdb database in 2006 . Nucleic Acids Res. . 34 . Database issue . D415–D418 . 2006 . 16381901 . 10.1093/nar/gkj139 . 1347501 . vanc. Rosenfelder H . Schupp I . 3 . Del Val . C . Arlt . D . Hahne . F . Bechtel . S . Simpson . J . Hofmann . O .

Notes and References

1. Lewin AR, Reid LE, McMahon M, Stark GR, Kerr IM . Molecular analysis of a human interferon-inducible gene family . Eur J Biochem . 199 . 2 . 417–423 . Aug 1991 . 1906403 . 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1991.tb16139.x . free .
2. Tanaka SS, Yamaguchi YL, Tsoi B, Lickert H, Tam PP . IFITM/Mil/fragilis family proteins IFITM1 and IFITM3 play distinct roles in mouse primordial germ cell homing and repulsion . Dev Cell . 9 . 6 . 745–756 . Dec 2005 . 16326387 . 10.1016/j.devcel.2005.10.010 . free .
3. Web site: Entrez Gene: IFITM3 interferon induced transmembrane protein 3 (1-8U).
4. Web site: Natural swine flu defence found. https://web.archive.org/web/20091220004257/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/swine-flu/6834606/Natural-swine-flu-defence-found.html. dead. December 20, 2009.
5. Everitt A.R.. IFITM3 restricts the morbidity and mortality associated with influenza. . Nature . 484. March 2012 . 22446628 . 10.1038/nature10921 . 7395 . 519–23. etal. 3648786 . 2012Natur.484..519. .
6. News: Gene flaw linked to serious flu risk. BBC News. 25 March 2012.