Synergistic effect of genetic polymorphisms in TLR6 and TLR10 genes on the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis in a Moldavian population

Polymorphisms in genes that control immune function and regulation may influence susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). In this study, 14 polymorphisms in 12 key genes involved in the immune response ( VDR, MR1, TLR1, TLR2, TLR10, SLC11A1, IL1B, IL10, IFNG, TNF, IRAK1, and FOXP3) were tested for their association with pulmonary TB in 271 patients with TB and 251 community-matched controls from the Republic of Moldova. In addition, gene–gene interactions involved in TB susceptibility were analyzed for a total of 43 genetic loci. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis revealed a nominal association between TNF rs1800629 and pulmonary TB (Fisher exact test P = 0.01843). In the pairwise interaction analysis, the combination of the genotypes TLR6 rs5743810 GA and TLR10 rs11096957 GT was significantly associated with an increased genetic risk of pulmonary TB (OR = 2.48, 95% CI = 1.62–3.85; Fisher exact test P value = 1.5 × 10−5, significant after Bonferroni correction). In conclusion, the TLR6 rs5743810 and TLR10 rs11096957 two-locus interaction confers a significantly higher risk for pulmonary TB; due to its high frequency in the population, this SNP combination may serve as a novel biomarker for predicting TB susceptibility.