Mult Scler. 2004 Feb;10(1):87-8
Bergkvist M, Olsson M, Sandberg-Wollheim M.
Department of Neurology, University Hospital, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS).
Several observations suggest that the interferon system may be of interest in the study of MS development To investigate whether polymorphism in components of the IFN system and the JAK-STAT pathway influence susceptibility to MS, we performed a linkage analysis between polymorphic loci in or close to the IFN gamma, IFN gamma receptor, IFN alpha/beta receptor, JAK 1, STAT 1 and STAT 3 genes in 27 Swedish families with at least two members having MS.
Tests for transmission disequilibrium and nonparametric linkage analysis gave negative results.
We found no evidence for linkage between MS and any of these loci.