Association between interleukin-17 genetic polymorphisms and tuberculosis susceptibility: an updated meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between the genetic polymorphisms of interleukin-17 (IL-17) and susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB).

Methods: Relevant case-control studies published up to July 2017 were searched. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were employed to estimate the association.

Results: Eleven articles involving 4961 TB patients and 5435 healthy controls were selected. Four polymorphic sites were identified: IL-17A rs22275913, rs3748067 and rs3819024; and IL-17F rs763780. We found that the rs2275913 polymorphism was associated with reduced TB risk in Caucasians under the allelic model (A vs. G, OR 0.69, 95%CI 0.49-0.96; P = 0.03), heterogeneous model (AG vs. GG, OR 0.67, 95%CI 0.47-0.93; P = 0.02) and domain model (AA+AG vs. GG, OR 0.64, 95%CI 0.44-0.93; P = 0.02); rs3748067 was associated with increased TB risk in Asians under the homogeneous model (TT vs. CC, OR 1.36, 95%CI 1.03-1.79; P = 0.03) and recessive model (TT vs. CT+CC, OR 1.35, 95%CI 1.02-1.78; P = 0.03). Other genetic variants were not associated with TB risk.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that the TT genotype of IL-17A rs3748067 might be a risk factor for TB in Asians; the A allele, as well as the AG and AA+AG genotypes of the rs2275913 polymorphism, might be protective against TB in Caucasians. Future studies with a large sample size are needed.