Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 1735-1502 14 1 2015 02 15 55 59 EN Mohammad Hashemi Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran AND  Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran. Mohammad Naderi Research Center for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicin, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran. Mahboubeh Ebrahimi Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran. Shadi Amininia Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran. Gholamreza Bahari Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran. Mohsen Taheri Genetics of Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran AND Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran. Ebrahim Eskandari-Nasab Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran. Saeid Ghavami Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada. 2015 10 16 Macrophages and T-lymphocytes are involved in immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Macrophage produces interleukin (IL)-1 as an inflammatory mediator. IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL1-Ra) is a natural antagonist of IL-1 receptors. In this study we aimed to examine the possible association between the variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) of the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL1RN) gene and pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in a sample of Iranian population. Our study is a case-control study and we examined the VNTR of the IL1RN gene in 265 PTB and 250 healthy subjects by PCR. Neither the overall chi-square comparison of PTB and control subjects nor the logistic regression analysis indicated any association between VNTR IL1RN polymorphism and PTB. Our data suggest that VNTR IL1RN polymorphism may not be associated with the risk of PTB in a sample of Iranian population. Larger studies with different ethnicities are needed to find out the impact of IL1RN VNTR polymorphism on risk of developing TB. https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/view/412 https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/download/412/425