title: SOCS gene family expression profile in the blood of multiple sclerosis patients.
abstract: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease, and the most common cause of nontraumatic disability in young people. The etiology of this disease is not well defined yet. Cytokines play an important role in differentiation, maturation and survival of a wide range of cells, including cells of the immune system. Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins are the most important regulators of this cytokine signaling pathway. The aim of present study was to compare the expression levels of SOCS1, SOCS2, SOCS3 and SOCS5 genes in the blood of 50 relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) patients and 50 healthy controls by Taqman Quantitative Real-Time PCR in patients and healthy control group. We observed that SOCS1 and SOCS5 expression was significantly down-regulated (P=0.045 and P=0.044, respectively); whereas, no significant difference was observed between MS patients and controls for SOCS2 and SOCS3 gene expression (P=0.747 and P=0.439, respectively). In addition, there was no significant correlation between the expression of SOCS1, SOCS2, SOCS3 and SOCS5 genes and clinical findings, such as the level of physical disability in the MS patients according to the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) criterion and disease duration. However, a significant positive correlation was observed between expression levels of SOCS genes. This study shows that loss of balance among various members of the SOCS family proteins may contribute to pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Urogenital Stem Cell Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, No 23, Shahid Labbafi Nejad Educational Hospital, Amir Ebrahimi St, Pasdaran Ave, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taheri
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arsang-Jang
authors.affiliation: Iranian Research Center on Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Genomic Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mirfakhraie
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehrdokht
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazdeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: ar.sayad@sbmu.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Arezou
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sayad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D050826:Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling Proteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D059467:Transcriptome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D050826:Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling Proteins
keywords: Expression; Multiple sclerosis; Real Time PCR; SOCS1; SOCS2; SOCS3; SOCS5