Ohanna Cavalcanti de Lima Bezerra, Lucia Elena Alvarado-Arnez, Nédio Mabunda, Graça Salomé, Amina de Sousa, Fernanda de Souza Gomes Kehdy, Carolinne Sales-Marques, Fernanda Saloum de Neves Manta, Rafaela Mota Andrade, Laís Pereira Ferreira, Thyago Leal-Calvo, Cynthia Chester Cardoso, Kelly Nunes, Mateus H Gouveia, Sam M Mbulaiteve, Edward D Yeboah, Ann Hsing, Ana Carla Pereira Latini, André Luiz Leturiondo, Fabíola da Costa Rodrigues, Ariani Batista Noronha, Cynthia de Oliveira Ferreira, Carolina Talhari, Jamile Leão Rêgo, Léa Cristina de Carvalho Castellucci, Eduardo Tarazona-Santos, Elizeu Fagundes de Carvalho, Diogo Meyer, Roberta Olmo Pinheiro, Ilesh V Jani, Antonio Guilherme Pacheco, Milton Ozório Moraes
Pyruvate kinase (PK), encoded by the PKLR gene, is a key player in glycolysis controlling the integrity of erythrocytes. Due to Plasmodium selection, mutations for PK deficiency, which leads to hemolytic anemia, are associated with resistance to malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and with susceptibility to intracellular pathogens in experimental models. In this case-control study, we enrolled 4,555 individuals and investigated whether PKLR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) putatively selected for malaria resistance are associated with susceptibility to leprosy across Brazil (Manaus-North; Salvador-Northeast; Rondonópolis-Midwest and Rio de Janeiro-Southeast) and with tuberculosis in Mozambique...
August 2021: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases