The role of FOXO3 polymorphisms in susceptibility to tuberculosis in a Chinese population

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is a significant worldwide health problem, and is caused by Mycobacteria tuberculosis. Recent studies have suggested that FOXO3 plays vital roles in the risk of immune–related infectious diseases such as TB. METHODS AND RESULTS: The present study aimed to evaluate FOXO3 genetic variants and TB risk. We recruited 510 TB patients and 508 healthy controls in this study. All subjects were genotyped with the Agena MassARRAY platform. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using logistic regression adjusted for age and gender. Our result revealed that rs3800229 T/G and rs4946935 G/A genotypes significantly increased the risk of TB (OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.04–1.74, p = 0.026; OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.03–1.73, p = 0.029, respectively). In stratified analysis according to gender and age, we observed that rs3800229 T/G and rs4946935 G/A genotypes were associated with an increase the risk of TB among males and age ≤41 years, respectively (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.06–2.04, p = 0.022 and OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.05–2.02, p = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that rs3800229 and rs4946935 in FOXO3 were associated with a risk of TB in the Chinese population.