Association between toll-like receptor 10 (TLR10) gene polymorphisms and childhood IgA nephropathy

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play an important role in the induction and regulation of the innate immune system and adaptive immune responses. TLR10 gene polymorphisms have been reported to be associated with a range of immune-related diseases. In this study, we investigated the association of TLR10 gene polymorphisms with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) in Korean children. To examine the association, we genotyped one promoter single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) [rs10004195 (-113T/A)] and three missense SNPs [rs11096957 (Asn241His), rs11096955 (Ile369Leu), and rs4129009 (Ile775Val)] using direct sequencing in 199 IgAN patients and 289 control subjects. Our case-control analysis showed that rs10004195 was associated with IgAN (codominant model, p = 0.016 in TT vs. TA; p = 0.044 in TT vs. AA; dominant model, p = 0.0068). In addition, when comparing the proteinuria level of IgAN patients according to the genotypes of each SNP, we found that in dominant model of rs1004195, the level of proteinuria of patients with TA or AA genotypes (median, 4.01 mg/m(2)/h) was higher than that of patients with TT genotype (2.00 mg/m(2)/h, p = 0.033). In conclusion, these results suggest that TLR10 gene may be associated with susceptibility to IgAN in Korean children.