ABSTRACT
It is estimated that one-third of the total world population is latently infected with M. tuberculosis and only 5-10% of the infected individuals will develop active TB disease during their life-time. The reason why some infected individuals develop active disease, while others do not is not yet entirely understood. Given the central role of TLR-2 in the incitement of inflammation, polymorphisms in its gene might be involved in both infectious and inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of TLR2 - 16934A/T and GT repeat polymorphisms on the immune response of PTB patients undergoing anti-TB treatment at different time points of anti-tuberculosis treatment: T1 (beginning), T2 (3 months) and T3 (end). For this we genotyped TLR2 -16934 and (GT)n repeats polymorphisms and evaluated the immune response of pulmonary tuberculosis patients during the time of anti-tuberculosis treatment. The present study suggests that TLR2 - 16934A/T and GT repeats polymorphisms can influence differential TLR-2, NF-κB and cytokine levels during anti-TB treatment. We also suggest that PTB patients with TLR2 - 16934 AA genotype may have a worst outcome of the disease, since they have a lower IFN-γ, cytokine essential to initiate the protective immunity to active TB. This association could not be made in our study due to the low number of patients evaluated. Since TLR-2 play a major role in initiating immune response against M...