| Summary: | Lymphatic filariasis, caused by lymphatic filarial parasites, <i>Wuchereria bancrofti,</i> and <i>Brugia malayi</i>, causes significant morbidity and disability to 120 million people in the tropics and subtropics. Chitin has an important role for embryogenesis in adult worms and is a component of microfilaria sheath. Human chitotriosidase (CHIT1) is a chitin-degrading enzyme which provides a protective role against chitin-containing pathogens. Here, we determined the association of <i>CHIT1</i> polymorphisms with susceptibility to bancroftian filariasis (BF) in 88 individuals at the Thai–Myanmar border. Two common polymorphisms of <i>CHIT1</i>, contributing inactive CHIT protein, including 24 base pair (24 bp) duplication in exon 10, and p. G102S in exon 4 were genotyped by allele-specific Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and PCR sequencing, respectively. Unexpectedly, genotype frequencies of 24 bp duplication insertion homozygous (INS/INS) were significantly higher in endemic normal (EN) (40.0%) than BF patients (31.4%). In contrast, genotype frequencies of p. G102S homozygous (A/A) in BF patients (21.6%) was higher than in EN (19.0%) without statistical difference. Mutant allele frequencies of 24 bp duplication were 0.6125 (98/160) and p. G102S were 0.392 (69/176). Genotype and allele frequencies of <i>CHIT1</i>, 24 bp duplication, and p. G102S, showed no association with BF patients.
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