Acta Neurol Scand. 2003 Dec;108(6):396-400
Luomala M, Lehtimaki T, Huhtala H, Ukkonen M, Koivula T, Hurme M, Elovaara
I.
Laboratory of Atherosclerosis Genetics, Department of Clinical Chemistry,
Centre for Laboratory Medicine, Tampere University Hospital, and University
of Tampere, Medical School, Tampere, Finland; Graduate School in Biosciences,
International Programme in Neuroscience, University of Tampere, Tampere,
Finland; Tampere School of Public Health, Tampere, Finland; Neuroimmunology
Unit, Department of Neurology, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland;
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Tampere and Tampere
University Hospital, Tampere, Finland; Department of Neurology, University
of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
Functional polymorphisms of the genes for interleukin-10 (IL-10; promoter position -1082), chemokine receptor-5 (CCR5 32 bp deletion), tumor necrous factor-alpha (TNFalpha promoter position -308) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4 exon 1 position 49) were investigated for possible influence on susceptibility and outcome of multiple sclerosis (MS).
The polymorphisms were typed by polymerase chain reaction based methods or by direct sequencing in MS patients (n = 93116) and controls (n = 109400).
The studied genes were not associated with MS susceptibility.
Patients were classified as suffering from a mild/moderate [Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 05.5] or severe (EDSS 68.0) form of MS.
The AG genotype of IL-10 proved to be protective against severe MS in all patients (OR = 0.32, P = 0.010), the effect being increased over the years (10 years; OR = 0.33, P = 0.043, 15 years; OR = 0.21, P = 0.025 or 20 years; OR = 0.14, P = 0.026).
Our results suggest that differential production of IL-10 might be a factor in the severity of MS.