M.Sc. (Biochemistry) / The vitamin D receptor (VDR) has been implicated in communicable diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), HIV infection and leprosy, as well as development or prognosis of noncommunicable diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, type I diabetes mellitus, and osteoporosis. The burden of these diseases is often higher in specific population groups, for instance the higher TB burden of African as compared to White South Africans. Besides genetics, epigenetic factors play a role in differential disease susceptibility and prognosis between population groups. To uncover the cause of differential susceptibility to VDR-related diseases, it is crucial that population group-specific variations in genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that regulate VDR are identified. Increases in predictive power of in silico tools, and the recent explosion in availability of genome-wide genetic and epigenetic data made bioinformatics an attractive option to preselect regions to study in the VDR...
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:12565 |
| Date | 08 October 2014 |
| Creators | Saccone, Donovan Sean |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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