Association study of the FTO gene polymorphisms with the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis in a sample of Iranian population.

AIM: The aim of the present study was to find out the impact of fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene on risk of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in a sample of Iranian population.

METHODS: This case-control study was carried out on a total of 354 subjects including 185 PTB patients and 169 healthy subjects. Genotyping of FTO rs9939609 and rs8050136 variants was done using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method.

RESULTS: FTO rs9939609 variant showed no statistically significant difference in allele and genotype frequencies between PTB patients and controls. The rs8050136 polymorphism marginally increased the risk of PTB in dominant (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.00-2.33, p = 0.055, CA+AA vs. CC) inheritance model tested, where rs8050136 A allele significantly increased the risk of PTB (OR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.02-1.97, p = 0.045) compared with C allele.

CONCLUSION: The finding of the present study showed an association between FTO rs9939609 variant and risk of PTB. Further studies with larger sample sizes and different ethnicities are necessary to confirm the findings.