title: Genetics of leprosy: Expected-and unexpected-developments and perspectives.
abstract: A solid body of evidence produced over decades of intense research supports the hypothesis that leprosy phenotypes are largely dependent on the genetic characteristics of the host. The early evidence of a major gene effect controlling susceptibility to leprosy came from studies of familial aggregation, twins, and complex segregation analysis. Later, linkage and association analysis, first applied to the investigation of candidate genes and chromosomal regions and more recently, to genome-wide scans, have revealed several HLA and non-HLA gene variants as risk factors for leprosy phenotypes such as disease per se, its clinical forms, and leprosy reactions. In addition, powerful, hypothesis-free strategies such as genome-wide association studies have led to an exciting, unexpected development: Leprosy susceptibility genes seem to be shared with Crohn's and Parkinson's disease. Today, a major challenge is to find the exact variants causing the biological effect underlying the genetic associations. New technologies, such as Next Generation Sequencing-that allows, for the first time, the cost- and time-effective sequencing of a complete human genome-hold the promise to reveal such variants; thus, strategies can be developed to study the functional impact of these variants in the context of infection, hopefully leading to the development of new targets for leprosy treatment and prevention.
authors.affiliation: Group for Advanced Molecular Investigation, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Monica E D
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Sauer
authors.affiliation: Group for Advanced Molecular Investigation, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Heloisa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salomão
authors.affiliation: Group for Advanced Molecular Investigation, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Geovana B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Group for Advanced Molecular Investigation, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Helena R S
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: D'Espindula
authors.affiliation: Group for Advanced Molecular Investigation, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rafael S A
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Group for Advanced Molecular Investigation, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Wilian C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Macedo
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Biological Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renata H M
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Sindeaux
authors.affiliation: Group for Advanced Molecular Investigation, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil; School of Health and Biological Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: m.mira@pucpr.br.
authors.forename: Marcelo T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Mira
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000235:genetics*; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000235:genetics