Author(s)

Luana Nepomuceno Gondim Costa Lima^1,2,3*, Letícia Siqueira Moura⁴, Jasna Leticia Pinto Paz², Maria do Perpétuo Socorro Amador Silvestre¹, Daniele Melo Sardinha³, Letícia Diogo de Oliveira Moura⁵, Karla Valéria Batista Lima^1,2

¹Bacteriology and Mycology Section, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ananindeua, PA, Brazil.
²Postgraduate Program in Parasitic Biology in the Amazon at the Universidade do Estado do Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil.
³Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology and Health Surveillance (PPGEVS), Instituto Evandro Chagas (IEC), Ananindeua, PA, Brazil.
⁴Graduate in Natural Sciences, Universidade do Estado do Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil.
⁵Postgraduate Program in Nursing, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belem, PA, Brazil.

Leprosy is an immunopathology caused by M. leprae; its evolution depends on immunological and genetic aspects of the host. The objective was verifying the relationship between SNPs 2029 and 2258 of the TLR-2 gene and leprosy. Blood samples from 127 individuals were analyzed: 45 patients, being 34 multibacillary (MB) and 11 paucibacillary (PB) and 82 contacts, in the municipalities of the State of Pará-Brazil. SNPs 2029 and 2258 of the TLR-2 gene were genotyped by sequencing on the ABI 3130 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems), analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. Distribution of SNP 2029 genotypes: all MB individuals presented the C/C genotype and the mutant (C/T) genotype was observed in contacts and PB. Alleles: all MB individuals presented only C allele and the mutant allele (T) was observed in contacts and PB. SNP 2258 genotypes: 79 contacts had G/G genotype and only 3 had G/A genotype, the MB group had only G/G genotype and the PB group was predominant G/G, with only 1 G/A genotype. Alleles: all MB individuals had allele G and the mutant allele (A) was observed in contacts and PB. The association between the SNPs and the susceptibility or protection to leprosy was not observed.

Polymorphism, Toll-Like Receptors, Leprosy

Lima, L. , Moura, L. , Paz, J. , Silvestre, M. , Sardinha, D. , Moura, L. and Lima, K. (2020) Polymorphisms of the Toll-Like Receptor-2 Gene in Patients with Leprosy and Their Healthy Contacts. Open Journal of Immunology, 10, 37-46. doi: 10.4236/oji.2020.103004.