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Association of a functional TNF variant with Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia in a congolese population

Genes & Immunity volume 18, pages 152–157 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Several studies have provided evidence of both helpful and harmful effects of TNF on the outcome of Plasmodium falciparum malaria infection. Several TNF polymorphisms that are located within non-coding regions have been associated with parasitaemia, mild malaria or severe malaria. We investigated the association of TNF1304 (rs3093664), TNF-308 (rs1800629), TNF-238 (rs361525) and TNF-244 (rs673) with mild malaria and symptomatic maximum parasitaemia in a population-based design (n=310). We obtained nominal evidence for an association between symptomatic maximum parasitaemia and TNF-308, TNF-238, and TNF-244 on the one hand, and between the number of mild malaria attacks and TNF-244 on the other hand. After accounting for multiple tests, we confirmed the association of symptomatic maximum parasitaemia with TNF-244. We further provide bioinformatics and experimental evidence that TNF-244 has a cis-regulatory effect. This is the first report that emphasizes the potential role of TNF-244 in malaria.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the individuals for participating in the study. We thank Laurence Borge for assistance and the use of the cell culture platform facility (CRCM U1068, Marseille). This work was supported by Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm) and Aix-Marseille University. TNN and SB were supported by a PhD fellowship from the Vietnamese government and the French ministry, respectively. FKK and FN are members of the Central African Network on Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Malaria, CANTAM) supported by EDCTP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSERM, UMR1090 TAGC, Marseille, France

    T N Nguyen, S Baaklini, M Torres, L Pradel & P Rihet

  2. Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

    T N Nguyen, S Baaklini, M Torres, L Pradel & P Rihet

  3. University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH), Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), Hanoi, Vietnam

    T N Nguyen

  4. Fondation Congolaise pour la Recherche Médicale (FCRM), Villa D6, Cité OMS AFRO, Brazzaville, République du Congo

    F Koukouikila-Koussounda & F Ntoumi

  5. Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Marien Ngouabi, Brazzaville, République du Congo

    F Koukouikila-Koussounda & F Ntoumi

  6. Unité de Recherche sur le Paludisme, Centre d’Etudes sur les Ressources Végétales (CERVE), Brazzaville BP, République du Congo

    M Ndounga

  7. Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    F Ntoumi

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  1. T N Nguyen
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Correspondence to P Rihet.

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Nguyen, T., Baaklini, S., Koukouikila-Koussounda, F. et al. Association of a functional TNF variant with Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia in a congolese population. Genes Immun 18, 152–157 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2017.13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2017.13

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