Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, USA. elorenz@wfubmc.edu
Premature birth causes significant health risks of the neonate and increases the cost for neonatal care. Urogenital infection, often caused by Gram-negative bacteria, is a known risk factor. Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) is the major endotoxin-signaling receptor and as such is crucial for the initiation of the innate immune response against Gram-negative bacteria. Recently, a variant in the human TLR4 gene was shown to be associated with impaired receptor function and an increased likelihood of Gram-negative sepsis. In the present study, we determined whether the same polymorphism in TLR4 gene is associated with an increased risk for premature birth. We analyzed genotypes for a Finnish study population consisting of a total of 351 term infants and 440 premature infants (gestational age