Genetic Polymorphism of Toll-Like Receptor 4 Gene (rs4986791) among Adult Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Background: Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is an essential component of innate cellular immunity. Moreover, TLR4 gene polymorphisms have been proven to be associated with risk to various forms of cancer, including hematological malignancies. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an invasive hematological malignancy. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the variability and distribution of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the TLR4 gene (rs4986791-Thr399Ile) in AML and to reveal the association of this SNP with the risk of bacterial infection among adult AML patients. Methods: A total of 140 adult participants (80 AML patients and 60 healthy controls) were involved in this study. All subjects underwent measurements of baseline hematological parameters. Using real-time PCR, all subjects were investigated for TLR4 (rs4986791) genotyping. Results: The homozygous wild-type (CC) variant of TLR4 (rs4986791) was more predominant in adult AML patients (95%) and controls (93.33%) than the heterozygous (CT) variant. There was no significant difference in the genotype or allele distribution of TLR4 (rs4986791) between adult AML patients and controls. Likewise, no significant difference in the distribution of TLR4 gene (rs4986791) variants was revealed among AML patients regarding AML different subtypes or acquiring bacterial infection (P > 0.05). Moreover, the results of regression analyses revealed no associations between TLR4 (rs4986791) SNP and AML subtypes or bacterial infection in AML patients. Conclusion: The homozygous wild-type (CC) genotype of TLR4 (rs4986791) is predominant among adult AML patients and healthy controls. Polymorphism of the TLR4 gene (rs4986791) does not appear to be associated with AML risk, AML different subtypes, and the risk of bacterial infection in the studied AML cohort.