Polymorphisms of suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 associated with susceptibility to tuberculosis among Han Taiwanese

Association of tuberculosis risk with genetic polymorphisms of the immune checkpoint genes PDCD1, CTLA-4, and TIM3

The immune checkpoint proteins were reported to involve to host resistance to Mycobacteria tuberculosis (Mtb). Here, we evaluated 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PDCD1, CTLA4, and HAVCR2 genes between participants with and without TB infection. Genomic DNA isolated from 285 patients with TB and 270 controls without TB infection were used to perform the genotyping assay. Odds ratios were used to characterize the association of 11 SNPs with TB risk. In this study, the various genotypes of the 11 SNPs did not differ significantly in frequency between the non-TB and TB groups. When patients were stratified by sex, however, men differed significantly from women in genotype frequencies at HAVCR2 rs13170556. Odds ratios indicated that rs2227982, rs13170556, rs231775, and rs231779 were sex-specifically associated with TB risk. In addition, the combinations of rs2227982/rs13170556 GA/TC in men and the A-C-C haplotype of rs231775-rs231777-rs231779 in women were significantly associated with TB risk. Our results indicate that rs2227982 in PDCD1 and rs13170556 in HAVCR2 are associated with increased TB susceptibility in men and that the CTLA4 haplotype appears protective against TB in women.

Tuberculosis case fatality is higher in male than female patients in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE

Epidemiological TB data indicate differences in infection prevalence, progression rates, and clinical disease incidence between sexes. In contrast, evidence on sex-specific differential (post) TB case fatality in Europe has not been synthesized systematically.

METHODS

We searched electronic databases and grey literature up to December 2020 for studies reporting sex-stratified TB death data for Europe. The JBI critical appraisal tools served for bias risk assessment and subgroup analyses for studying heterogeneity. Random-effects models meta-analyses enabled estimating pooled relative risks of sex-associated TB fatality. Considering associations of comorbidities and risk factors on fatality differences, we applied relative risk meta-regression.

RESULTS

Based on 17,400 records screened, 117 studies entered quantitative analyses. Seventy-five studies providing absolute participant data with moderate quality and limited sex stratification reported 33 to 235,000 TB cases and 7 to 27,108 deaths. The pooled male-to-female TB fatality risk ratio was 1.4 [1.3-1.5]. Heterogeneity was high between studies and subgroups. Study time, concurrent comorbidities (e.g., HIV, diabetes, cancers), and mean participant ages showed no effect modification. We identified higher male TB fatality in studies with higher homelessness (coefficient 3.18, 95% CI [-0.59 to 6.94], p-value 0.10) and lower migrants proportion (coefficient - 0.24, 95% CI [- 0.5 to 0.04], p-value 0.09).

CONCLUSION

We found 30-50% higher TB case fatality for males in Europe. Except for homelessness, migration, and a trend for some comorbidities, assessing effect modification could not reduce our meta-analysis' high heterogeneity. Public health authorities should take heed of this higher risk of dying in male patients' treatment services.

A case-control study on correlation between the single nucleotide polymorphism of CLEC4E and the susceptibility to tuberculosis among Han people in Western China

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Western China. Preclinical studies have suggested the protective effect of the C-type lectin receptor of family 4 member E (CLEC4E) from TB. Herein, we investigated the association between CLEC4E gene variants and TB susceptibility in a western Chinese Han population.

Methods

We genotyped four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs10841856, rs10770847, rs10770855 and rs4480590 in the CLEC4E gene using the improved multiplex ligation detection reaction (iMLDR) assay in 900 TB cases and 1534 healthy controls.

Results

After stratifying the whole data by sex, it was found that males exhibited mutant allele G of rs10841856 was more strongly associated with increased TB risk after Bonferroni correction (OR = 1.334, 95% CI: 1.142–1.560; P < 0.001 after adjusting for age; p = 0.001 after Bonferroni correction). The genetic model analysis found that rs10841856 was associated with the increased risk of TB among males under the dominant model (OR = 1.557, 95% CI = 1.228–1.984, P < 0.001 after adjusting for age, P < 0.001 after Bonferroni correction). Bioinformatics analysis suggested that rs10841856 might fall in putative functional regions and might be the expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) for CLEC4E and long noncoding RNA RP11-561P12.5.

Conclusions

Our study revealed that rs10841856 in the CLEC4E gene might be related to increased TB risk, especially the dominant genetic model among male Han individuals from Western China

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-021-06448-2.

The association of inflammasome and TLR2 gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to tuberculosis in the Han Taiwanese population

Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a global public health concern. Although inflammasome and the toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) genes play an important role in host defense against Mtb, the associations of polymorphisms in these genes with TB risk are incompletely understood. A total of 230 TB patients and 213 individuals without TB were enrolled in this study. A significant difference in the frequencies of different AIM2 rs2276405 genotypes between the non-TB and TB groups was detected. When the patients were stratified by gender or age, significant differences in genotype frequencies at NLRP3 rs34298354 in men and in non-aged (≤65-year-old) subjects and at IFI16 rs1772408 in women were found. OR analysis showed that the TC rs34298354 genotype in NLRP3 was associated with reduced risk of TB. In women, the AG rs1772408 genotype in IFI16 was associated with decreased TB risk. Haplotype analysis showed that, in comparison with the most common haplotype (T-T) of rs3804099-rs3804100 in the TLR2 gene, the C-T haplotype was associated with an increased risk for TB. Our study indicates that rs34298354 in NLRP3 and rs1772408 in IFI16 protect individuals from TB, and that the less common TLR2 haplotype is associated with increased TB susceptibility.