Association of a NOD2 Gene Polymorphism and T-Helper 17 Cells With Presumed Ocular

Retinochoroiditis manifests in patients infected with Toxoplasma gondii. Here, we assessed 30 sibships and 89 parent/case trios of presumed ocular toxoplasmosis (POT) to evaluate associations with polymorphisms in the NOD2 gene. Three haplotype-tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (tag-SNPs) within the NOD2 gene were genotyped. The family-based association test showed that the tag-SNP rs3135499 is associated with reti-nochoroiditis (P =.039). We then characterized the cellular immune response of 59 cases of POT and 4 cases of active ocular toxoplasmosis (AOT). We found no differences in levels of interferon γ (IFN-γ) and interleu-kin 2 produced by T-helper 1 cells when comparing patients with AOT or POT to asymptomatic individuals. Unexpectedly, we found an increased interleukin 17A (IL-17A) production in patients with POT or OAT. In patients with POT or AOT, the main cellular source of IL-17A was CD4+CD45RO+T-bet−IFN-γ − T-helper 17 cells. Altogether, our results suggest that NOD2 influences the production of IL-17A by CD4+ T lympho-cytes and might contribute to the development of ocular toxoplasmosis. Lifelong infection with the obligate intracellular proto-zoan Toxoplasma gondii affects one-third of th