The NCTB Project
Globally, the leading cause of death due to an infectious disease is Tuberculosis (TB). Tuberculosis is caused by the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb).
Little is known about the human-host genetic risk factors for developing active TB and so far there has been weak consensus among past studies. The TB burden is among the highest in Africa. The last GWAS on TB in Africa, with an n>1,000 was in 2012; the time is now to leverage advances in technology and methodology to discover those genetic risk factors.
We are working to characterize the genetic architecture of TB susceptibility in our 10,000 participant case-control study in South Africa, a region where latent infection with TB affect 80-90% of the population and many people develop disease symptoms.
Little is known about the human-host genetic risk factors for developing active TB and so far there has been weak consensus among past studies. The TB burden is among the highest in Africa. The last GWAS on TB in Africa, with an n>1,000 was in 2012; the time is now to leverage advances in technology and methodology to discover those genetic risk factors.
We are working to characterize the genetic architecture of TB susceptibility in our 10,000 participant case-control study in South Africa, a region where latent infection with TB affect 80-90% of the population and many people develop disease symptoms.