Abstract

GENOTYPING POLYMORPHISM OF THE CD14 GENE AND THE RISK OF SEPSIS IN IRAQI NEONATES

Dr. Manal. M. Khadhim*, Dr. Nasma. N. Al-Hajjiah and Orass. M. Shaheed

Abstract

Background: Neonatal sepsis (NS) is a clinical syndrome of systemic illness accompanied by bacteremia occurring in the first month of life. It remains one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity despite the progress in hygiene, introduction of new and potent antimicrobial agents for treatment, and advanced measures for diagnosis. Aim: The present study was conducted to evaluate the role of the genotypic and allelic frequency of CD14 gene polymorphism at position –C159T for the susceptibility to sepsis in neonates. Methods: This study was conducted on 75 neonates who were admitted to Maternity and Childhood Teaching Hospital at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at AL-Diwaniyah city, Iraq, and 75 healthy neonates as a (control group). RFLP-PCR technique was performed for the detection the genotype and alleles in CD14 (C-159t) gene in neonatal sepsis patients samples as well as in healthy control groups. The statistical significance of the measured OR is assessed by a special 2 (Chi-square) formula. Results: the risk of having proven sepsis, compared to healthy controls was significantly increased by 13.1 times for neonates with TT genotype. Conversely, the presence of C allele significantly reduced the risk of having culture positive neonatal sepsis by 13.1 times. Conclusion: There is significantly higher prevalence of detection of SNP of CD14 (C-159t) gene polymorphism among patients with proven septic and probable septic neonates as compared to control group. This provides strong evidence that CD14 (C-159t) gene may play a major role in the susbtiplity for sepsis.

Keywords: Neonatal sepsis, CD14 gene, Genotype, RFLP