Community acquired pneumonia: genetic variants influencing systemic inflammation

Abstract

The inflammatory response depends on several factors, including pathogenicity and duration of the stimulus, and also on the balance between inflammatory and antiinflammatory response. Several studies have presented evidence of the importance of genetic factors in severe infections. The innate immune response prevents the invasion and spread of pathogens during the first hours after infection. Each of the different processes involved in innate immunity may be affected by genetic polymorphisms, which can result in susceptibility or resistance to infection. The results obtained in the different studies do not irrefutably prove the role or function of a gene in the pathogenesis of respiratory infections. However, they can generate new hypotheses, suggest new candidate genes based on their role in the inflammatory response, and constitute a first step in understanding the underlying genetic factors.

Keywords: Community acquired pneumonia; Genetic polymorphisms; Neumonía adquirida en la comunidad; Polimorfismos de un solo nucleótido; Polimorfismos genéticos; Sepsis susceptibility; Single nucleotide polymorphisms; Susceptibilidad a sepsis.