PTPN22 C1858T polymorphism and human brucellosis

The PTPN22 gene encodes for an intracellular lymphoid-specific phosphatase (Lyp) that has a negative regulatory effect on T-cell activation. The minor allele of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the PTPN22 gene encoding the Lyp-tyrosine phosphatase has been associated with multiple autoimmune disorders and with susceptibility to M. tuberculosis. It is possible, therefore, that variants of this gene may also be involved in susceptibility to another intracellular pathogen, B. melitensis, which gives rise to human brucellosis. Accordingly, we studied 111 patients with brucellosis and 150 healthy controls who had had no prior contact with the pathogen. Genotyping of the PTPN22 1858CT was performed by an allele discrimination assay with TaqMan 5'. We found no statistically significant differences between the patients and the controls in genotype or allele frequencies of PTPN22 1858CT. These data suggest that this variant is not associated with human brucellosis.