Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor II Gene Polymorphism and Association with Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria

Host genetic factors, host-parasite interactions, parasite genetic diversity, and/or environmental influences have been implicated in the molecular basis of susceptibility and resistance to Plasmodium parasite infections. Host Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor II (TNFR II), a 75/80kDa protein encoded by the tnfr II gene has been identified as an adhesion protein for Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Tnfr II gene exhibits functional polymorphism on exon 6 among Caucasians with a potential effect on the ligand-binding function of TNFR II. This study aimed to investigate tnfr II gene polymorphisms on exon 6 and its relationship to Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Badagry, Lagos Nigeria. Genotyping was done using PCR-Restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. A total of 68 blood samples comprising of 49 controls and 19 malaria cases were genotyped. Result revealed both the wild-type (T587) and a mutant-type (T→587G) genotypes of tnfr II. Generally, the analysis showed that the variant-type had a lower prevalence rate (11.76%) than the wild-type (88.24%). The frequencies of wild-type were highest in the controls (85.70%) while the frequencies of the mutant-type were lower in the malaria cases (5.30%). However, the Chi-square test showed no statistical significant difference (p value = 0.30) between the distribution of the genotypes in malaria cases and controls. This study indicates that polymorphism on exon 6 of tnfr II gene was not associated with susceptibility or resistance to malaria infection in Badagry, Nigeria. Further researches with a larger sample size are needed to clarify this subject.