Figure 2.

Association of rs7071836 with CD39 mRNA levels in Treg but not other CD39+ human leukocytes. (A) The position of the SNP-cluster which is in perfect linkage disequilibrium (r² = 1) with rs7071836 in Asian individuals (CHB/JPT) is shown here with respect to the transcripts of the gene CD39 (ENTPD1). Linkage disequilibrium was estimated using the 60 samples sequenced by the 1000 Genomes Pilot Project. This SNP-cluster contains 82 SNPs spanning the entire gene. The position of the tag-SNP rs7071836 is indicated. (B) Impact of rs7071836 on CD39 gene expression in Treg, CD4+ T effector cells, B cells and monocytes isolated by FACS sorting from 15 genotyped individuals. The CD39 mRNA content is plotted with reference to rs7071836 genotype. Statistical analysis revealed that the polymorphism is associated with CD39 cell surface expression in T regulatory cells only (P < 0.0001). Gene expression was measured using the Affymetrix Human Exon 1.0ST Array and data were normalized using the Robust Multichip Average (RMA) at the gene level. P-values for the association were evaluated using one-way ANOVA on log₂-transformed data (n = 15).