Genetic variants in MARCO are associated with the susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis in Chinese Han population

• Published in: PloS one 2011-08, Vol.6 (8), p.e24069-e24069
• Main Authors: Ma, Mai-Juan, Wang, Hai-Bing, Li, Hao, Yang, Jun-Hai, Yan, Yan, Xie, Lan-Pin, Qi, Ying-Cheng, Li, Jun-Lian, Chen, Mei-Juan, Liu, Wei, Cao, Wu-Chun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Alleles; Analysis; Biology; Case-Control Studies; China - epidemiology; China - ethnology; Collagen (type I); Cytokines; Disease susceptibility; Epidemiology; Female; Genetic aspects; Genetic diversity; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genetic variance; Genomes; Genotype; Genotype & phenotype; Haplotypes; Health aspects; Hepatitis; Humans; Immune response; Infections; Laboratories; Ligands; Macrophages; Male; MARCO protein; Medical research; Medicine; Middle Aged; Multivariate analysis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Pathogenesis; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Population; Pulmonary tuberculosis; Receptors, Immunologic - genetics; Risk Factors; Signaling; Single nucleotide polymorphisms; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Tagging; Toll-Like Receptors; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - genetics; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024069

Susceptibility to tuberculosis is not only determined by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, but also by the genetic component of the host. Macrophage receptor with a collagenous structure (MARCO) is essential components required for toll like receptor-signaling in macrophage response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which may contribute to tuberculosis risk. To specifically investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in MARCO gene are associated with pulmonary tuberculosis in Chinese Han population. By selecting tagging SNPs in MARCO gene, 17 tag SNPs were identified and genotyped in 923 pulmonary tuberculosis patients and 1033 healthy control subjects using a hospital based case-control association study. Single-point and haplotype analysis revealed an association in intron and exon region of MARCO gene. One SNP (rs17009726) was associated with susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis, where the carriers of the G allele had a 1.65 fold (95% CI = 1.32-2.05, p(corrected) = 9.27E-5) increased risk of pulmonary tuberculosis. Haplotype analysis revealed that haplotype GC containing G allele of 17009726 and haplotype TGCC (rs17795618T/A, rs1371562G/T, rs6761637T/C, rs2011839C/T) were also associated with susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis (p(corrected) = 0.0001 and 0.029, respectively). Our study suggested that genetic variants in MARCO gene were associated with pulmonary tuberculosis susceptibility in Chinese Han population, and the findings emphasize the importance of MARCO mediated immune responses in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis.