The interleukin-10 polymorphism g.3936 G>A is uncoupled with bovine tuberculosis susceptibility in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

Mycobacterium bovis (Mb), the causing agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), is an intracellular pathogen highly adapted to the host condition. In cattle, several studies regarding the influence of host genetic makeup, have highlighted the influence of polymorphisms on progression and/or resistance to bTB. For this reason, we decided to investigate the role of a pleiotropic immune mediator, named interleukin-10 (IL-10) on susceptibility to bTB in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). IL-10 is secreted by several kind of cells belonging to the innate immune response and is expressed during TB infection. It is involved in phagosome maturation and in the regulation of pro14 inflammatory cytokine induction as well. These two aspects indicate that IL-10 gene play a critical role in susceptibility and pathogenesis of bTB. To test our hypothesis, we extracted the DNA from blood samples of 184 buffaloes (59 case and 125 controls) reared in 5 herds located in Campania region (South Italy). A 300bp region spanning the exon 5 of the IL-10 gene (NW_005783511) in 10 cases and 10 controls chosen randomly was amplified and sequenced. Sequence comparisons showed a transversion g.3936G>A responsible of the substitution p.Arg152Lys in the primary protein sequence. To test the possibility that g.3936G>A polymorphism is a bTB associated marker we genotyped all samples by mean of AS-PCR