Profile of cytokine gene polymorphisms in Iranian multiple sclerosis patients

¹ Immunogenetic Laboratory, Department of Immunology, Medical School, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
² Iranian Multiple Sclerosis Society and Department of Neurology, Medical School, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
³ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Background Cytokine gene polymorphisms have been extensively studied in association with different diseases. The role of cytokine gene polymorphisms in multiple sclerosis (MS), as a chronic immune-mediated neurodegenerative disease, has been previously reported.

Materials and methods DNA samples were collected from 44 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and 140 unrelated healthy subjects. All participants in this study were matched for ethnicity. Cytokine gene SNPs were determined using the PCR-SSP method.

Results and discussion We found no significant differences between MS patients and controls in most of the studied cytokine genes. Remarkable results were obtained for IL-2 GG - 330 genotype (P=0.06), IL-6 C - 174 allele (P=0.06), CG and GG genotypes (P<0.001), and GG (P=0.02) and CG (P<0.001) haplotypes, and TNF-alpha A - 238 allele (P<0.001), GG (P=0.003) and GA (P<0.001) haplotypes. These results suggest that polymorphic variations of these pro-inflammatory cytokines play an important role in susceptibility to MS.

Key Words: association, cytokine gene, Iranian population, multiple sclerosis, single nucleotide polymorphism

First published on January 29, 2007, doi:10.1177/1352458506070237

Multiple Sclerosis 2007;13:253.

A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2007


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