Background: Tetraspanin proteins are expressed in various immune cells, and they play an important role in tuberculosis formation. CD53 is a protein in the tetraspanin family that is expressed in many white blood cells. In particular, it plays an important role in cytokine regulation and interaction between natural killer (NK) cells and antigen-presenting cells (APCs).
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) difference of CD53 gene could affect TB case.
Methods: In this study, we investigated the effects of genetic polymorphism of CD53 on the pathogenesis of tuberculosis based on Korean Association Resource (KARE) data. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the effect of SNPs of the CD53 gene on tuberculosis in TB cases and control groups. We also examined the effect of SNPs on tuberculosis in gene expression.
Results: Eight SNPs of CD53 were found to be associated with TB case. The SNP showing the greatest significance in this association was rs4839583 (odds ratio = 0.83, 95% confidence interval 0.72-0.96, p = 0.010). These genetic variants might be involved in cytokine regulation through the Jun pathway, and are thought to affect the immune responses and pathogenesis of TB.
Discussion: CD53 is a type of tetraspanin that is expressed on various immune cells. In this study, we identified eight statistically significant SNPs in CD53 gene, confirming that it could be involved in the regulation of CD53 gene expression.
Conclusion: Associations between genetic variants and tuberculosis facilitated better understanding of the differences in the incidence of tuberculosis in various populations.
Keywords: CD53; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; SNP; Tetraspanin; Tuberculosis.