The Contribution of Host Genetics to TB Disease

Melanie   J.   Newport

Abstract

There is robust epidemiological evidence that susceptibility to tuberculosis is in part heritable. This has driven the use of genetics to try to find the genes and pathways involved that could in the longer term contribute towards the development of new therapies and a better vaccine for this major global health problem. This paper reviews the progress made in the field to date, and discusses the challenges inherent in undertaking genetics studies on a complex disease with clinically diverse phenotypes, that affects many genetically different populations and which is further complicated by the presence of a pathogen which has a genome too.

Keywords: Genetic linkage, genome wide association studies, immune response genes, Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial disease, single nucleotide polymorphisms, tuberculosis.

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