Study of TNF-α, IFN-γ, TGF-β, IL-6, and IL-10 gene polymorphism in individuals from the leprosy endemic area in the Brazilian Amazon

This study aimed to verify the relationship between the polymorphisms of the cytokines TNF-α rs1800629; IFN-γ rs2430561; TGF-β rs1982073 e rs1800471; IL-6 rs180079 e IL-10 rs1800896, rs1800871 and rs1800872 and leprosy. Blood samples were analyzed from 106 individuals, of whom 24 were paucibacillary (PB), 28 were multibacillary (MB), 32 intradomiciliary consanguineal contacts of patients (CCOSI) and 22 intradomiciliary non-consanguineal contacts of patients (CNCOSI). Analysis of cytokine polymorphisms typified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. For TGFβ, a tendency to associate the presence of the C allele at rs1982073 with leprosy was demonstrated, with the T allele being most frequently found in the CCOSI (p = .056). For the polymorphisms IL-10 we found an association of the GCC/GCC genotype with the susceptibility to the disease and the A-allele rs1800896 with the leprosy protection. Greater predominance was found of ACC / ATA (31.3%) and GCC / ATA (37.5%) (p = .03) and the A-allele rs1800896 (76.85%) (p = .043) in the CCOSI groups, while the GCC/GCC was found in the MB group (22.2%) (p = .05). For the other cytokines's SNPs 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.