Candidate Gene Case Control Study of Human African Trypanosomiasis in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a protozoal disease transmitted by bites of tsetse flies. Infection with trypanosomes can lead directly to active HAT or latent infection with no detectable parasites, which may progress to active HAT or to spontaneous self-cure. Genetic variation could explain these differences in the outcome of infection. To test this hypothesis, 96 polymorphisms in 17 candidate genes were tested for association with phenotype in a case control design. The genes tested were: APOL1, CFH, HLA-A, HPR, HP, IL1B, IL12B, IL12RB1, IL10, IL4R, MIF ,TNFA, IL6, IL4, IL8, IFNG, and HLA-G.EGA study EGAS00001004365