Lack of association between polymorphisms from genome-wide association studies and tuberculosis in the Chinese population

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified rs4331426 and rs2057178 as being associated with tuberculosis (TB) in African populations. Both are common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Africans, but they are much rarer in Eurasian populations. In order to corroborate these results, we carried out a case-control study in the Chinese population; these 2 SNPs were genotyped in 600 pulmonary TB patients and 618 healthy controls. The results showed that neither of the SNPs was associated with TB, even after stratification by gender, age, and smear status. Considering the limitation of poor coverage of variations in commercial available genotyping platforms in African populations, further GWAS should be conducted in other populations such as Indian and Chinese. Moreover, future genetic studies on host susceptibility to TB need to take into account all the variables, including host, environment, pathogen, and interactions.