Abstract: Objective To investigate the association between the HLA-DRB1 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in North China. Methods A 1∶1 matched case-control study was adopted. Polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers techniques (PCR-SSP) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was used to type polymorphisms (DR15, DR16, DR1, DR11). Information on environmental-related risk factors and pathological changes of tuberculosis was collected using a pre-tested standard questionnaire. Variance analysis, Chi-square, univariate and multivariate conditional Logistic analysis were conducted with SPSS 12.0 for Window. Results A sample of 124 pairs of cases and controls was studied. Univariate analysis demonstrated that DR15 mutant increased the risk of susceptibility of pulmonary tuberculosis (OR＝2.461, 95%CI: 1.363~4.444, P=0.002),and it would further increased if DR16 mutant occurred together (OR=4.904, 95%CI: 1.554~15.476). In multivariate analysis, DR15 mutant also associated with susceptibility of pulmonary tuberculosis (OR=2.996, 95%CI: 1.51~5.945). Conclusion Polymorphism of DR15 genotype might be a susceptible genotype of TB patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in North China.

Key words: tuberculosis, pulmonary, diabetes, HLA gene, polymorphism, case-control study