Abstract
BackgroundObesity is known to affect cell-mediated immune responses. Recent studies have revealed that genetic polymorphisms in the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene are related to human obesity. We hypothesize that this gene may also play a role in the risk of immune-related infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.MethodsThis case-control study included 1625 pulmonary tuberculosis cases and 1570 unaffected controls recruited from the Jiangsu province in China. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs9939609 and rs8050136, in the FTO gene were genotyped using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the unconditional logistic regression model.ResultsWe observed a significant association between the genetic polymorphism rs9939609 and tuberculosis risk. Compared with the common genotype TT, individuals carrying AA had a significantly increased risk, with an OR of 3.77 (95% CI: 2.26-6.28). After adjusting for potential confounders, the relationship remains significant. An additive model showed that carriers of an allele A had a 26% increased risk of tuberculosis compared with the T allele (OR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.08-1.48). Compared with the common haplotype rs9939609T-rs8050136C, the haplotype rs9939609A-rs8050136C was related to an increased risk of tuberculosis (OR = 6.09, 95% CI: 3.27-12.34).ConclusionsThe FTO polymorphism rs9939609 is associated with a risk of pulmonary tuberculosis in the Chinese population.
Highlights
IntroductionRecent studies have revealed that genetic polymorphisms in the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene are related to human obesity
Obesity is known to affect cell-mediated immune responses
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become available [16], and great advances have been made in exploring the association of genetic polymorphisms with human diseases and traits [17,18]
Summary
Recent studies have revealed that genetic polymorphisms in the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene are related to human obesity. We hypothesize that this gene may play a role in the risk of immune-related infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. The first single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) robustly related to body mass index (BMI) was mapped to one gene in 2007 This gene, known as FTO (fat mass and obesity associated, Gene ID: 79068), has been repeatedly found to affect obesity in different populations [19,20,21,22]. The genetic polymorphisms rs9939609 and rs8050136 within the FTO gene were found to be significantly associated with obesity in different populations [25,26,27,28], including the Chinese population [29,30,31,32]
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