title: Interferon-gamma gene polymorphism in Iranian patients with multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Interferon- gamma (IFN- gamma) is an important immune regulator and inflammatory cytokine which is implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). A single nucleotide polymorphism, T to A, at position +874 in the first intron has previously been shown. This polymorphism is associated with IFN- gamma production level. To study the effect of this polymorphism on susceptibility to multiple sclerosis, we screened genomic DNA samples from clinically definite MS patients and their unaffected first-degree relatives as controls, using sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). The results indicated that MS patients showed a lower TT (21.2% vs. 30.3%) and higher AA (21.2% vs. 12.1%) genotypes compared to controls, although there were statistically no differences in the IFN- gamma genotype distribution between these two groups. Thus, our data indicate that there is no association between IFN- gamma +874 polymorphism and MS susceptibility or severity of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. izadm@sina.tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Izad
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vodjgani
authors.forename: Mohammad Hossein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Nicknam
authors.forename: Jamshid
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lotfi
authors.forename: Davood
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fathi
authors.forename: Ali Akbar
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Amirzargar