Abstract
BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system. Evidences linking apolipoprotein E (APOE) to myelin repair, neuronal plasticity, and cerebral inflammatory processes suggest that it may be relevant in MS. The main goal of this study was to determine whether the APOE genotypes and alleles are associated with MS patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 147 MS cases and 168 control subjects from Iranian population were genotyped for APOE gene using PCR-RFLP method. RESULTS: The frequency of APOE-epsilon2epsilon3 genotype was significantly higher in controls than cases (14.3% vs. 6.1%, P=0.009, OR=0.39) whereas APOE-epsilon3epsilon4 genotype frequency was significantly higher in cases compared with controls (8.2% vs. 3.6%, P=0.03, OR=2.4). APOE-epsilon2 allele frequency in cases was significantly lower than that of controls (4.4% vs. 8.0%, P=0.03, OR=0.52). Also male controls were significantly more likely to have APOE-epsilon2 allele (7.8% vs. 1%, P=0.01, OR=0.11). APOE-epsilon4 allele frequency in cases was significantly higher than control group (4.8% versus 2.1%, P=0.03, OR=2.35). CONCLUSION: It seems that individuals carrying APOE-epsilon4 allele and/or APOE-epsilon3epsilon4 genotype develop MS two times more than non-carriers. Also APOE-epsilon2epsilon3 genotype or APOE-epsilon2 allele may have a protective role against MS development in Iranian population. Further investigation would be warranted to understand the role of APOE alleles and genotypes and risk of MS.
