Association between single nucleotide polymorphisms rs12722489 and multiple sclerosis in Iranian patients with multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex incurable neurodegenerative disease featuring demyelination of neurons, resulting in impairment of neuron impulses. Recently, an association of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) (rs2104286 and rs12722489) in interleukin 2 receptor subunit alpha (IL2RA) gene was found to be a risk factor of MS in white European population. Therefore, we performed a study to investigate the contribution of these two intronic variations in Iranian patients with MS.

We determined the genotypes of rs2104286 and rs12722489 in patients with MS (n = 100) and in the control group (n = 111). The SNPs were genotyped using tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (T-ARMS-PCR) for both of SNPs. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS software. Also, odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated.

Logistic regression revealed that various genotypes of rs12722489, regarding sex-adjusted effect, yielded meaningful association with MS risk in Iranian patients (OR = 2.67, 95% CI: 1.03-6.90). However, no association was obtained for rs2104286 and rs12722489 with MS.

The results confirmed partially the reports in white European population performed recently. However, further investigation in larger scale is necessary to validate our study.