First Gene Linked To TB Risk Found NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The first genetic factor to be linked to increased risk for the development of tuberculosis (TB) in an infected individual has been reported by US and Cambodian researchers. From a study conducted in Cambodia of patients with TB and a set of healthy controls, researchers based at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and at the Cambodian Health Committee in Phnom Penh, report that those who carry a particular allele called HLA-DQB1+0503 were at increased risk for both susceptibility to and progression of clinical tuberculosis. An allele is one of a pair of genes that carry information on a particular genetic trait. In the study published Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers found that this particular allele was found only in DNA from patients with active TB infection. It was not found in DNA obtained from any healthy subject included in the study for the purpose of comparison. "Our findings identify the HLA-DQB1+0503 allele as, to our knowledge, the first gene associated with TB progression," concludes the research team, led by Dr. Anne E. Goldfeld from the Division of Adult Oncology at Dana-Farber. "Confirmation of this finding in other populations and identification of additional genetic factors involved in mycobacterial infection should improve understanding of the pathogenesis of tuberculosis," wrote Dr. Phil B. Fontanarosa, a senior editor of the journal, in a commentary. The finding may also "...contribute to strategies for reducing the morbidity and mortality from this all too prevalent worldwide infection," he added. According to the report, about one third of the world population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB. About 1 in 10 of those infected will progress to frank disease during their lifetime, and the infection accounts for 3 million deaths around the world each year. Factors that increase the risk of active TB infection include impaired immunity, poverty, and poor nutrition. SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association (1998;279:226-228)
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