Investigating Prevalence of FOXP3 Gene Polymorphism in Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease of central nervous system. Lack of regulation in inflammatory responses is considered to be a key element in the auto reactive immune response in MS. The FOXP3 transcription factor is predominantly expressed by the Treg cell lineage and appears to act as a master regulator of effector T cell activation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the possible association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the FOXP3 gene and predisposition to MS. This case-control study consisted of 115 MS patients and 115 healthy controls, which were genotyped for the SNP rs 3761549. RFLP analysis was performed using AluI restriction enzyme. The frequency of A allele was 15.6% in patients and 98.3% in normal controls (p=0.33). Moreover, allele G was identified as 98.1% in MS cases and 11.3 in controls. The rs 3761549(GG) was found in 84.3% of MS patients and in 88.7% of controls (p=0.33), rs 3761549 (AA) was found in 0.9% of MS cases and in 1.7% of controls (p=0.5), rs 3761549 (AG) was observed in 84.4% of MS cases and in 88.7% of controls (p=0.27). No significant difference was observed between patients and controls in regard with alleles and genotypes. The results of the present study suggest that the mentioned functional polymorphism is not likely to cause susceptibility to MS.(OR= 0.678 95% CI= 1.477-0.0319)