Investigation of an inducible nitric oxide synthase gene (NOS2A) polymorphism in a multiple sclerosis population.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) affecting most commonly the Caucasian population. Nitric oxide (NO) is a biological signaling and effector molecule and is especially important during inflammation. Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is one of the three enzymes responsible for generating NO. It has been reported that there is an excessive production of NO in MS concordant with an increased expression of iNOS in MS lesions. This study investigated the role of a bi-allelic tetranucleotide polymorphism located in the promoter region of the human iNOS (NOS2A) gene in MS susceptibility. A group of MS patients (n = 101) were genotyped and compared to an age- and sex-matched group of healthy controls (n = 101). The MS group was subdivided into three subtypes, namely relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS), secondary-progressive MS (SP-MS) and primary-progressive MS (PP-MS). Results of a chi-squared analysis and a Fisher's exact test revealed that allele and genotype distributions between cases and controls were not significantly different for the total population (chi(2) = 3.4, P(genotype) = 0.15; chi(2) = 3.4, P(allele) = 0.082) and for each subtype of MS (P > 0.05). This suggests that there is no direct association of this iNOS gene variant with MS susceptibility.
Genomics Research Centre, School of Health Science, Griffith University Gold Coast, Southport, Qld. 4215, Australia.
Lotti
L
Tajouri
Virginie
V
Martin
Micky
M
Ovcaric
Rob P
RP
Curtain
Rod A
RA
Lea
Peter
P
Csurhes
Michael P
MP
Pender
Lyn R
LR
Griffiths
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000235:genetics*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000235:genetics*; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
D012333:RNA, Messenger; C496319:NOS2 protein, human; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II