TB patients showed higher levels of mRNAs encoding IRAK-M (P <0.01 versus controls), TOLLIP (P <0.05) and SOCS-3 (P <0.01), whereas the levels of mRNAs encoding A20 and mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase (MKP)-1) did not differ between groups. This evidence concerns the gene SOCS3 and tuberculosis.