Polymorphisms of TLR2, TLR4 and TOLLIP and tuberculosis in two independent studies

Genetic polymorphisms for tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility have been researched by some studies, but few have studied multiple innate immunity genes associated with TB. Evidence suggests that the toll-like receptor 2, 4 (TLR2, TLR4) and toll interacting protein (TOLLIP) may be associated with TB susceptibility. In this self-validated study, we explored the association between common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of TLR2, TLR4 and TOLLIP in the Chinese Han and Tibetan populations. A SNPscan™ method was used to genotype SNPs in the three genes. Multiple logistic regression adjusted by sex and age was used to detect the association between SNPs and TB. In TLR2, rs1898830 was associated with decreased risk against TB in the Chinese Han population, which was validated in the Tibetan population. In TLR4, rs11536889 was a protective factor for TB in the Tibetan population, but not in the Han population. Additionally, in the Tibetan population, we also found that the frequency of genotypes of TOLLIP rs11536889 differs significantly between TB patients and controls. We found rs1898830 in TLR2 was associated with TB susceptibility in both Chinese Han and Tibetan populations while rs11536889 in TLR4 and rs3750920 in TOLLIP were protective factors against TB in the Tibetan population.