BACKGROUND: Host genetic factors may play a role in the susceptibility to active tuberculosis (TB), and several polymorphisms in different cytokine coding genes have been described and associated with diseases to date. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether polymorphisms within the promoter region of the TNF-alpha (-238/-308) coding genes are associated to the occurrence of active TB. METHODS: SNPs within the TNF-alpha gene were analyzed by PCR-RFLP among two groups of individuals: patients with TB (n = 234, and patients non TB (n = 113). RESULTS: In this study, the presence of the -238A allele was associated with susceptibility to TB disease occurrence and severity (p = 0,00002; OR = 0,15; IC = 0,06-0,36. On the contrary, the -308A allele was associated with protection to the occurrence of another pulmonary diseases. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the importance of genetics studies on TB occurrence. Further studies are needed pursuing a better understanding of the human pathogenesis of M. tb.
Tuberculosis; Polymorphism, single nucleotide; Tumor necrosis factor; Alleles; Genotype; Lung diseases
