Heterozygosity for the S180L variant of MAL/TIRAP, a gene expressing an adaptor protein in the toll-like receptor pathway, is associated with lower risk of developing chronic chagas cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Background. Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Among T. cruzi–infected individuals, only a subgroup develops severe chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC); the majority remain asymptomatic. T. cruzi displays numerous ligands for the Toll‐like receptors (TLRs), which are an important component of innate immunity that lead to the transcription of proinflammatory cytokines by nuclear factor–κB. Because proinflammatory cytokines play an important role in CCC, we hypothesized that single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes that encode proteins in the TLR pathway could explain differential susceptibility to CCC among T. cruzi–infected individuals. Methods. For 169 patients with CCC and 76 T. cruzi–infected, asymptomatic individuals, we analyzed SNPs by use of polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis for the genes TLR1, TLR2, TLR4, TLR5, TLR9, and MAL/TIRAP, which encodes an adaptor protein. Results. Heterozygous carriers of the MAL/TIRAP variant S180L were more prevalent in the asymptomatic group (24 [32%] of 76 subjects) than in the CCC group (21 [12%] of 169) (χ2=12.6; P=.0004 [adjusted P &parl0;Pc&parr0;=.0084]; odds ratio [OR], 0.31 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.16–0.60]). Subgroup analysis showed a stronger association when asymptomatic patients were compared with patients who had severe CCC (i.e., patients with left‐ventricular ejection fraction ⩽40%) (χ2=11.3; P=.0008 [Pc=.017]; OR, 0.22 [95% CI, 0.09–0.56]) than when asymptomatic patients were compared with patients who had mild CCC (i.e., patients with left‐ventricular ejection fraction >40%) (χ2=7.7; P=.005 [Pc=.11]; OR, 0.33 [95% CI, 0.15–0.73]). Conclusion. T. cruzi–infected individuals who are heterozygous for the MAL/TIRAP S180L variant that leads to a decrease in signal transduction upon ligation of TLR2 or TLR4 to their respective ligand may have a lower risk of developing CCC.