Tohid Gharibi1, Tohid Kazemi2, Mohammad Reza Aliparasti1, Mehdi Farhoudi3, Shohreh Almasi2, Rashedeh Dehghanzadeh4, Narges Seyfizadeh2, Zohreh Babaloo5. 1. Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran ; Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran ; Department of Immunology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran. 2. Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran ; Department of Immunology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran. 3. Neuroscience Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran. 4. Department of Immunology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran. 5. Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran ; Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran ; Neuroscience Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran ; Department of Immunology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the Central Nervous System that is immunologically mediated in genetically susceptible individuals. IL-21, a cytokine produced by TCD4(+) cells, particularly by Th-17 cells, is believed to play an important role in the MS pathogenesis. OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to investigate the impact of genetic polymorphisms in IL-21 gene on MS susceptibility and clinical profiles. METHODS: Seventy Iranian patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS and 110 age, sex and ethic matched controls were genotyped for IL-21 gene polymorphisms using PCR-RFLP method. RESULTS: Our results showed that the IL-21 rs2221903 SNP is not polymorphic in our population. Also, the allelic and genotypic frequencies of the IL-21 rs2055979 did not differ significantly between the MS patients and controls (P = 0.413 and P = 0.565 respectively, and OR = 1.122, 95% CI = 0.79-1.87 for T allele). However, our results showed that IL-21 rs2055979 (G/T) T allele positive (TT+GT) MS patients had lower (PI ≤ 1.5) disease progression compared to rs2055979 T allele negative (GG) patients (P = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that no outstanding association exists between IL-21 alleles and susceptibility to MS. However, our clinical analysis showed significant association of IL-21 gene polymorphism with the progression of multiple sclerosis disease. Our results indicate that the G allele promotes, or the T allele protects against disease progression. To clarify the role of IL-21 rs2055979 in MS pathogenesis, further comprehensive studies with larger sample sizes among different ethnicity populations are recommended.
BACKGROUND:Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the Central Nervous System that is immunologically mediated in genetically susceptible individuals. IL-21, a cytokine produced by TCD4(+) cells, particularly by Th-17 cells, is believed to play an important role in the MS pathogenesis. OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to investigate the impact of genetic polymorphisms in IL-21 gene on MS susceptibility and clinical profiles. METHODS: Seventy Iranian patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS and 110 age, sex and ethic matched controls were genotyped for IL-21 gene polymorphisms using PCR-RFLP method. RESULTS: Our results showed that the IL-21rs2221903 SNP is not polymorphic in our population. Also, the allelic and genotypic frequencies of the IL-21rs2055979 did not differ significantly between the MS patients and controls (P = 0.413 and P = 0.565 respectively, and OR = 1.122, 95% CI = 0.79-1.87 for T allele). However, our results showed that IL-21rs2055979 (G/T) T allele positive (TT+GT) MS patients had lower (PI ≤ 1.5) disease progression compared to rs2055979 T allele negative (GG) patients (P = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that no outstanding association exists between IL-21 alleles and susceptibility to MS. However, our clinical analysis showed significant association of IL-21 gene polymorphism with the progression of multiple sclerosis disease. Our results indicate that the G allele promotes, or the T allele protects against disease progression. To clarify the role of IL-21rs2055979 in MS pathogenesis, further comprehensive studies with larger sample sizes among different ethnicity populations are recommended.
Entities:
Keywords:
Multiple sclerosis; interleukin-21; polymorphism; progression index
Authors: S Adamovic; S S Amundsen; B A Lie; A H Gudjónsdóttir; H Ascher; J Ek; D A van Heel; S Nilsson; L M Sollid; A Torinsson Naluai Journal: Genes Immun Date: 2008-04-17 Impact factor: 2.676
Authors: Jian Zhang; Wan Xia Xiao; Yuan Feng Zhu; Fatuma Said Muhali; Ling Xiao; Wen Juan Jiang; Xiao Hong Shi; Lian Hua Zhou; Jin An Zhang Journal: BMC Endocr Disord Date: 2013-07-29 Impact factor: 2.763