We analyzed DNA from 81 Dutch children with NTM from a nationwide surveillance study and 215 community controls for 22 polymorphisms in CD209, IL1B, IL8, IL10, IL12B, IL12RB1, IL18, PTX3, TLR4, TNF, VDR and SLC11A1 by MassArray platform (Sequenom) and CONTING. We screened for 818del4 in IFNGR1 by PCR and VspI restriction enzyme cleavage.
We found a positive association between NTM lymphadenitis and +3953TT in IL1B (OR 2.9; 95 % -CI: 1.2–7.2). Furthermore, our results showed that −592C/A heterozygosity in IL10 is linked to protection from disease (OR 0.54; 95 % -CI: 0.3–0.95), but that other polymorphisms were unrelated to localized NTM disease. However, these associations were not robust to Bonferroni's correction for multiple testing. None of the children carried the IFNGR1 818del4 mutation.
Dominance of environmental factors over genetic ones and insufficient sample size might explain the fragility of this study's results. Nevertheless, the association between NTM lymphadenitis and 3953C>T, a polymorphism previously linked to periodontitis, supports our hypothesis that oral exposure to mycobacteria during eruption of teeth plays a role in the etiology of cervical NTM lymphadenitis.