Background.Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by the intracellular acid-fast bacilliMycobacterium leprae; it has been determined that genetic factors of the host play an important role in the disease susceptibility. Thus, in this case-control study, we evaluated the possible association between theIL-17A G-197A(rs227593) andIL-17F A7488G(His161Arg, rs763780) gene SNPs and susceptibility to leprosy disease in Mexican population.Methods.Seventy-five leprosy patients and sixty-nine control subjects were included. Both SNPs were genotyped with the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique.Results.We found nonsignificant differences in genotype and allele frequencies related toIL-17A G-197A(rs227593) andIL-17F A7488G(His161Arg, rs763780) gene SNPs in MB as well as subclinical forms of leprosy disease versus healthy individuals.Conclusions.Since the sample size is not large enough, it is difficult to sustain an association of susceptibility to leprosy with genotypes or allele frequencies ofIL-17A G-197A(rs227593) andIL-17F A7488G(His161Arg, rs763780), suggesting thatIL-17polymorphisms have no significant role in the genetic susceptibility to development of this disease in the Mexican Mestizo population.
Identification of a systemic interferon-γ inducible antimicrobial gene signature in leprosy patients undergoing reversal reaction