Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz). 2003;51(3):201-5
Bocko D, Bilinska M, Dobosz T, Zoledziewska M, Suwalska K, Tutak A,
Gruszka E, Frydecka I.
Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of
Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland
Multiple sclerosis (MS) a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system is believed to have a T cell-mediated autoimmune etiology.
The cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) gene is a strong candidate for the involvement in autoimmune diseases because CTLA-4 plays an important role in the downregulation of the early and late stages of T cell activation and the maintenance of peripheral T cell tolerance.
To examine the genetic association of the CTLA-4 gene locus with MS, we analyzed an exon 1 CTLA-4 gene polymorphism A(49)G in 102 unrelated Polish MS patients in the Lower Silesia region and 101 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects.
The distribution of CTLA-4 exon 1 A(49)G genotype, phenotype and allele frequencies did not differ between patients with MS and healthy subjects.