Tuberculosis risk-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms do not show association with leprosy in Chinese population.

OBJECTIVE

Leprosy and tuberculosis (TB) are chronic granulomatous infectious diseases. As well as pathogen and environmental factors, host genetic factors make a substantial contribution to susceptibility to both diseases. More importantly, leprosy and TB also have pathogenic mechanisms and clinical features in common. In this study, the genetic association between leprosy and TB was investigated in a Chinese Han population.

METHODS

A genetic association study that included 46 TB susceptibility single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was performed, involving 1150 leprosy cases and 1150 controls from the Chinese Han population. The Sequenom MassARRAY system was used.

RESULTS

No significant association was found between the 46 SNPs and leprosy. Therefore, according to the present study, there is no shared susceptibility locus between leprosy and TB in the Chinese Han population.

CONCLUSIONS

Although leprosy and TB have a number of similar characteristics, no shared susceptibility loci were found in the Chinese Han population. Thus, this study demonstrated that the genetic basis of the pathogenesis of the two diseases may vary greatly.