Our aim was to investigate the association between polymorphisms in CARD8 and NLRP3 and active tuberculosis (TB) as well as their relationship to treatment outcome in a high-endemic setting for TB.
By isolation of macrophages from patients and healthy blood donors with genetic variants in NLRP3 and CARD8 and subsequent infection of the cells with virulent M. tuberculosis, we show that these gene variants, combined, are associated with increased control of bacterial growth in human macrophages.
The results of this study support the novel association between CARD8 gene and HIV+TB+ coinfection, demonstrating that inflammasome genetics could influence HIV-1 infection and the development of opportunistic infection.