Our findings support previous data showing that VDR SNPs modulate the risk for TB in West Africans and suggest that variation within DC-SIGN and PTX3 also affect the disease outcome.
Genomic DNA from 95 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and 117 ethnically matched, healthy controls were typed for HLA-DRB1, DRB3, DRB4, DRB5, DQB1, and VDR polymorphisms FokI, BsmI, ApaI, and TaqI using polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP).
The Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene is a good candidate, because it influences immune response, and associations between TaqI and FokI polymorphisms in the VDR gene and pulmonary TB risk have been found.
Regulatory role of vitamin D receptor gene variants of Bsm I, Apa I, Taq I, and Fok I polymorphisms on macrophage phagocytosis and lymphoproliferative response to mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen in pulmonary tuberculosis.
The present study suggested that the genotype tt of vitamin D receptor gene may be associated with susceptibility to pulmonary TB in female patients, and the genotype TT may be associated with resistance in female contacts.
In the present study, the influence of non-MHC genes such as mannose binding protein (MBP), vitamin D receptor (VDR) and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) gene polymorphisms on lymphocyte response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture filtrate antigen (10 micrograms/ml) was studied in 44 patients with active pulmonary TB and the family contacts (35) and in 32 normal healthy subjects.
Recent studies have implicated variation in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene in susceptibility to several diseases, including osteoporosis and pulmonary tuberculosis.