01814nas a2200265   4500000000100000008004100001260001200042653002000054653002700074653001600101653001200117653003100129100001200160700000900172700001200181700000900193700000900202700001100211700001000222700000900232700001000241245009200251520119100343022001401534       2021                            d  c03/202110acoding variants10agenetic susceptibility10ainterleukin10aleprosy10anext generation sequencing1 aZhang D1 aLi H1 aZheng Q1 aBi R1 aXu M1 aWang D1 aZhu G1 aLi Y1 aYao Y00aMapping leprosy-associated coding variants of interleukin genes by targeted sequencing.3 a<p>Previous genotyping-based assays have identified non-coding variants of several interleukins (ILs) being associated with genetic susceptibility to leprosy. However, understanding of the involvement of coding variants within all IL family genes in leprosy was still limited. To obtain the full mutation spectrum of all ILs in leprosy, we performed a targeted deep sequencing of coding regions of 58 ILs genes in 798 leprosy patients (age 56.2 ± 14.4; female 31.5%) and 990 healthy controls (age 38.1 ± 14.0; female 44.3%) from Yunnan, Southwest China. mRNA expression alterations of ILs in leprosy skin lesions or in response to M. leprae treatment were estimated by using publicly available expression datasets. Two coding variants in IL27 (rs17855750, p.S59A, p = 4.02 × 10 , odds ratio [OR] = 1.748) and IL1RN (rs45507693, p.A106T, p = 1.45 × 10 , OR = 3.629) were significantly associated with leprosy risk. mRNA levels of IL27 and IL1RN were upregulated in whole blood cells after M. leprae stimulation. These data showed that IL27 and IL1RN are leprosy risk genes. Further functional study is required for characterizing the exact role of ILs in leprosy.</p>  a1399-0004