Description

Human SLC11A1 gene polymorphism tends to confer susceptibility to M. africanum TB disease in Ghana
Adwoa Asante-Poku1,2,3*, Portia Morgan1,2,3, Samuel Yaw Aboagye1, Prince Asare1,2,3, Isaac Darko Otchere1,2,3, Stephen Osei-Wusu1,2, Samuel Mawuli Adadey5, Khuthala Mnika5, Kelvin K. Esoh5, Kenneth Hayibor Mawuta1,2, Nelly Arthur4, Audrey Forson4, Gaston Kuzamunu5, Ambroise Wonkam5, Dorothy Yeboah-Manu1,2,3
1Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana;
2West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, University of Ghana
3Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana;
4Department of Chest Diseases, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Korle-Bu, Accra, Ghana;
5Division of Human Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences - University of Cape Town;

Mycobacterium africanumand Mycobacterium tuberculosis sensu stricto (MTBss) are the causative agents of human tuberculosis. Recent literature implicates human host factors in the variable outcomes of TB presentation and treatment. Here, we explored the association among selected human/host genomic variants and TB disease in Ghana. Mycobacterium tuberculosisisolates were obtained from 323TB patients and genotyped into different phylogenetic lineages by standard methods. Four hundred and sixty-nine (469) non diseases participants were used as healthy controls. A selection of 29 SNPs from TB disease associated genes with high frequency among African populations were assayed using a TaqMan® SNP Genotyping Assay and iPLEX Gold Sequenom Mass Genotyping Array. We performed principal component (PC) analysis using PLINK1.9 and evaluated the correlation between the PCs using generalized linear model (glm) employed in R statistical package. The prevalence of MTBssand M. africanumamong the participants were 79% and 21% respectively. Principal component (PC) analysisshowed thatrs2695342 variant on the SIC11A1gene tends to confer susceptibility to M. africanuminfections (P= 0.093, OR = 8.35, 95% CI = 0.70 –99.24). Our findings suggest SLC11A1as a potential susceptibility gene of substantial interest for TB caused by M. africanumwhich is an important pathogen in West Africa and highlight the need for in-depth host pathogen studies in West Africa.