Lack of Evidence for an Association between IL-17F Rs763780 Polymorphism and Pulmonary Tuberculosis

ABSTRACT

The relationship between the interleukin-17F (IL-17F) rs763780 polymorphism and tuberculosis (TB) has been a source of debate. The potential association between the IL-17F rs763780 polymorphism and TB was investigated using a meta-analysis of case-control studies, which were obtained using the EMBASE, PubMed, CNKI, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. Heterogeneity across studies was evaluated, and summary odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were computed to estimate a summary effect size using either a fixed-effects or random-effects model. Eight eligible studies comprising nine comparisons for the IL-17F rs763780 polymorphism (3824 cases and 3787 controls) were obtained for this meta-analysis. Although a significant relationship between IL-17F rs763780 and TB susceptibility was observed using the allele genetic model (odds ratio = 1.34, 95% confidence interval = 1.04–1.74), there was high heterogeneity among the studies (I2 = 79%, P=0.0001). The stratified analyses by race, type of tuberculosis, and Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium suggested that the IL-17F rs763780 polymorphism was not associated with risk of pulmonary tuberculosis and the heterogeneity disappeared. Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium is the main cause of the heterogeneity. No evidence was found through this meta-analysis that suggested an association between the IL-17F rs763780 polymorphism and risk of pulmonary tuberculosis.

KEYWORDS:

• IL-17F
• rs763780
• meta-analysis
• polymorphism
• tuberculosis

Disclosure statement

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.