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

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