This study aimed at verifying the relationship between the polymorphisms of the cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) -308 G / A (rs1800629); interferon gamma (IFN-g) +874 T / A (rs2430561); transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-b) códon 10 (rs1982073) and códon 25 (rs1800471); interleukin (IL)-6 -174 G / C (rs180079) and IL-10 -1082 A/T (rs1800896); -819 C / T (rs1800871); -592 A/C (rs1800872); and leprosy. Blood samples were analyzed from 106 individuals, of whom 24 were paucibacillary (PB), 28 were multibacillary (MB), and 54 were patient contacts. Analysis of cytokine polymorphisms was typified by the polymerase chain reaction technique. For TGF-b +869 T / C and +915 G/C, a tendency to associate the presence of the C allele at codon 10 with leprosy was demonstrated, with the T allele being most frequently found in the CCOSI (P = 0.056). For the polymorphisms IL-10 -1082 A/T, -819 C/T, and -592 A/C, we found an association of the GCC/GCC genotype with the susceptibility to the disease and the A allele at position 1082 with the leprosy protection. Greater predominance was found of ACC/ATA (31.3%) and GCC/ATA (37.5%) (P = 0.03) and the A allele at position -1082 (76.85%) (P = 0.043) in the CCOSI groups, whereas the GCC/GCC was found in the MB group (22.2%) (P = 0.05). For the other cytokines's single-nucleotide polymorphisms, there were no associations with susceptibility to leprosy. These results are limited by sample size, may not be conclusive, and will need further confirmation in a larger cohort.
Leprosy is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae. There is a lack of data regarding environmental reservoirs, which may represent a serious public health problem in Brazil, especially in the state of Pará, which occupies the fourth position in incidence of cases in the country. Previous studies report evidence of infection occurring among armadillos, mangabei monkeys, and chimpanzees. In the present study, wild animals were captured and tested for the presence of anti-PGL-1 antibodies and M. leprae DNA. Fieldwork was carried out from October to November of 2016 in the cities of Curionópolis and Canaã dos Carajás, southeast of Pará state. Small and medium-sized wild animals were captured using appropriate traps. A total of 15 animals were captured. Sera and viscera fragments were collected and tested by ELISA and PCR methods. The presence of M. leprae DNA was confirmed by sequencing of specific gyrase gene in three animals of two different species, including one Necromys lasiurus (liver sample) and two Proechimys roberti (kidney and liver samples). This unprecedented finding suggests that species other than those previously reported are responsible for maintaining M. leprae in nature.
Polymorphisms in genes that are responsible for encoding cytokines and receptors involved in the immune response, such as Toll-like Receptor (TLR) 2 in leprosy, are of great interest for immunogenetic studies. This work aimed to analyze the possible association of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), synonymous, rs3804100 of the TLR2 gene with leprosy. The study was conducted in Bacteriology and Mycology section of Evandro Chagas Institute, Brazil between August 2020 and July 2021.The scope of the study consisted of 122 subjects from cities of Goianésia, Rondon, Curionópolis, Altamira, Parauapebas and Redenção of the State of Pará, Brazil. Genotyping was performed by conventional PCR and sequencing in the ABI 3130 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems®) using primer nucleotides designed by the Primer3Plus program from the genomic region “Homo sapiens toll like receptor 2 (TLR2) transcript variant X6, mRNA”, deposited in GenBank with reference XM_011532216.2. The analyzes were performed based on Fisher's exact test. It was managed in accordance with Helsinki Declaration and the Brazilian National Health Council and with approval of the ethics committee at Evandro Chagas Institute, under opinion number: 3.950.570. No associations between gender and leprosy were possible (P> 0.05). However, associations were observed between age groups, which were significant between those over 46 years old (P=0.004) and the 2nd dose of BCG as a more protective agent between the groups analyzed (P=0.004). For the subjects with the typed genotypes, 68 contacts had T/T genotype and only 4 T/C genotypes, while in multibacillary (MB) group only 1 T/C genotype was found and none in paucibacillary (PB) (P> 0.05). We conclude that there is no association between the TLR2 SNP rs3804100 and leprosy in the Pará population, which still indicates the need for new immunogenetic studies with other genes involved in the immune response and a greater number of polymorphisms.
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