Abstract
Intestinal parasitic diseases are common in developing countries including South Africa and have been documented to be the most common in children under the age of five. The present study aimed to identify any potential association that may exist between TNF-α promoter gene polymorphism and parasitic infections. A total of 199 blood samples were evaluated from children who were part of the MAL-ED study cohort. The DNA was used to investigate polymorphism in the promoter region of the TNF-α gene at position -1031T/C. The polymorphisms were detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay. The TC genotype at position -1031 was significantly higher in healthy controls children than in children who were infected with Entamoeba species (59.9% vs 29.4%, P = 0.015) and Entamoeba coli (59.1% vs 30.8%, P = 0.046), indicating that TC genotype may be protective against Entamoeba infections and Entamoeba coli infections. The CC genotype at position -1031 was more common among children with parasite and diarrhea and the results was statistically significant (P = 0.04). This study has revealed that the CC genotype may be is a risk factor for symptomatic parasitic infections while the TC genotype might be protective of Entamoeba infections among children in Dzimauli community.