Association Between Genetic Polymorphisms of lncRNA NEAT1 and Pulmonary Tuberculosis Risk, Clinical Manifestations in a Chinese Population

Background: Recent studies have shown that abnormal expression of lncRNA NEAT1 is associated with the progression of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). The aim of our study was to analyze the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of NEAT1 gene and susceptibility to PTB. Methods: Four SNPs (rs2239895, rs3741384, rs3825071, rs512715) in NEAT1 gene were genotyped in 479 patients with PTB and 476 controls by improved multiple ligase detection reaction (iMLDR) in a Chinese population. Results: We found no significant differences in allele and genotype frequencies of NEAT1 gene rs2239895, rs3741384, rs3825071, rs512715 between PTB patients and controls (all P > 0.05). There was no statistically significant association between genotype frequency distribution of dominant model, as well as recessive model, and genetic susceptibility to PTB patients (all P > 0.05). The TT genotype, T allele frequencies of rs3825071 were significantly increased in sputum smear-positive PTB patients when compared to sputum smear-negative PTB patients ( P = 0.010, P = 0.003, respectively). Haplotype analysis shown that NEAT1 haplotype frequency was not associated with PTB susceptibility. Conclusion: NEAT1 gene polymorphisms were not associated with the risk of PTB in Chinese population, and rs3825071 polymorphism might be related to sputum smear-positive in PTB patients. Keywords: long non-coding RNA, NEAT1, pulmonary tuberculosis, single nucleotide polymorphisms