Association of HLA-DRB1*1501 allele with Multiple Sclerosis in North East and West of Iran

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervoussystem (CNS) with a multi-factorial aetiology involving genetic factors.Among HLA class II histocompatibility antigens, HLA-DR plays a central role in the immune system through presentation ofpeptides derived from extracellular proteins to T helper cells. DRB1 beta chain is the most prevalent beta subunit of HLA-DR,which is a protein encoded by the HLA-DRB1 gene in human.Methods: Genomic DNA of 489 MS patients and 350 control samples from Mashhad and Ahvaz city of Iran was extracted andHLA-DRB1*1501 allele was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The frequency of HLA-DRB1*1501 in patientswas twice that of controls in this study (30.5% vs.17.3%). P value in Pearson Chi-squared test for HLA-DRB1*1501 wasstrongly significant (3.70 x 10-5) and Odds ratio was 2.095 (95% CI: 1.468-2.990). The results determined that HLADRB1*1501 strongly associated with MS disease.Discussion: HLA-DRB1*1501 is a predisposing factor for MS disease and DRB1*1501 allele is a similar predisposing allele inIranian and Western countries.

Keywords:

HLA-DRB1*1501 allele , Multiple sclerosis , Iran