The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the TLR-4 gene TLR4 c.896A < G polymorphism on the development and clinical severity of urinary tract infections (UTI) and renal scar formations in children. The patients with first diagnosis of UTI (n = 112) and healthy controls (n = 93) were enrolled in the study. The TLR4 c.896A < G polymorphism was analysed in groups. The mean age of the patients in the study group was 8.1 ± 3.5 years and 9.2 ± 2.7 years for those in the control group. The TLR4 c.896A < G polymorphism was detected in 12.5% in the UTI group and in 15.1% of the control group. Forty patients showed pyelonephritis (PN) with scar tissue, 37 patients had PN without scars, and 35 patients had lower UTI. The TLR4 c.896A < G polymorphism was found in 22.5% of patients with scar-positive PN, and it was also present in 10.8% of patients with scar-negative PN and 2.9% of patients with lower UTI. We found higher TLR4 c.896A < G polymorphism and allelic frequency in patients with upper UTI compared to patients with lower UTI (P = 0.041 and P = 0.039, respectively). No significant difference was observed between patients and the control group for TLR-4 c.896A3. The TLR4 c.896A < G polymorphism and alleles were higher in patients with upper UTI than in patients with lower UTI. The TLR4 c.896A < G polymorphism frequency was nearly twice that in the scar-positive PN patients when compared to the scar-negative patients. Larger-scale studies involving larger numbers of patients should be performed.
© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.