Authors:
Rye MS, Wiertsema SP, Scaman ESH, Thornton R, Francis RW, Vijayasekaran S, Coates HL, Jamieson SE, Blackwell JM
Authors notes:
Infection, Genetics and Evolution. 2013;16:411-418
Keywords:
Acute otitis media, Association, Genetic polymorphisms, Otitis media with effusion, SLC11A1
Abstract:
Otitis media (OM) is a common disease in early childhood characterised by inflammation of the middle ear.
Susceptibility to recurrent acute OM and chronic OM with effusion is 40-70% heritable.
Three bacterial pathogens commonly associated with OM, Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp), non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) and Moraxella catarrhalis (Mc), have been observed within adenoids and as facultative intracellular pathogens that invade and survive in mononuclear cells.
Case/pseudo-control conditional logistic regression analysis of variants in the SLC11A1 gene, initially identified for its role in resistance to intra-macrophage pathogens in mice, revealed association with OM at four polymorphisms in 531 families (660 affected children) from the Western Australian Family Study of Otitis Media.
This study identifies SLC11A1 as a novel candidate for OM susceptibility, particularly in children with adenoids intact.
Further analysis in other cohorts is required to validate these observations