Regulatory role of vitamin D receptor gene variants of BsmI, ApaI, TaqI, and FokI polymorphisms on macrophage phagocytosis and lymphoproliferative response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen in pulmonary tuberculosis

The regulatory role of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene variants of BsmI, ApaI, TaqI, and FokI polymorphisms on vitamin D-3-modulated macrophage phagocytosis with live Mycobacterium tuberculosis and lymphoproliferative response to M. tuberculosis culture filtrate antigen (CFA) was studied in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (n = 46) and in normal healthy subjects (NHS) ( n = 64). Vitamin D-3 at a concentration of 1 x 10(-7) M enhanced the phagocytic potential of normal subjects who had a phagocytic index of less than 20%. This increase was seen in subjects with the genotypes BB ( p = 0.017), AA ( p = 0.016), tt ( p = 0.034), and FF ( p = 0.013) and the extended genotype BBAAtt ( p = 0.034). Normal subjects with BBAAtt performed better phagocytosis than individuals with bbaaTT genotype ( p = 0.034). Vitamin D-3 at 10(-9), 10(-8), and 10(-7) M concentrations suppressed the lymphoproliferative response to CFA antigen in normal subjects. This decreased lymphocyte response was observed in normal individuals with the genotypes BB( p = 0.0009), tt ( p = 0.016), and FF ( p = 0.008) and the extended genotype BBAAtt ( p = 0.02). Addition of vitamin D3 had no significant effect on macrophage phagocytosis and lymphoproliferative response to CFA in pulmonary TB patients. This may be due to the unresponsive nature of the cells to the action of vitamin D3 or the downregulated VDR expression by virtue of the disease, which renders them inactive. The genotypes BB, tt, and the extended genotype BBAAtt may be associated with increased expression of VDR which in turn regulate the action of vitamin D-3 and modulate the immune functions to M. tuberculosis in NHS.