TLR7 Gln11Leu single nucleotide polymorphism and response to treatment with imiquimod in patients with basal cell carcinoma: a pilot study

Aim: The Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonist, imiquimod, offers a topical and noninvasive therapeutic method for the clinical treatment of superficial basal cell carcinoma (BCC). In this study we explored the relationship between the functional X-linked TLR7 rs179008/Gln11Leu polymorphism and the response to imiquimod in patients with BCC. Patients & methods: Thirty-four BCC patients treated with imiquimod were included in the study. SNP genotyping of the TLR7 promoter polymorphism was performed by TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. Results: In the group of female nonresponders to imiquimod a higher frequency of the altered genotype compared with responders was observed. Similarly, in the group of male nonresponders to imiquimod both patients with the mutated genotype were nonresponders. Conclusion: The results of this study show that patients carrying at least one T allele of the TLR7 promoter polymorphism are associated with an increased probability to be resistant to imiquimod therapy.