RPS6KB expression analysis in multiple sclerosis patients compared to healthy controls

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the CNS. mTOR signaling pathway regulates the function of a wide range of immune cells and CNS myelination during development. Immunosuppressive effect of Rapamycin confirms the role of this pathway in the immune system. RPS6KB1, one of the main downstream targets of mTOR, has been identified as a susceptibility locus for MS in association studies. Here we analyzed the expression of RPS6KB1 gene in MS patients in comparison with healthy controls.Methods: Blood samples were collected from 30 MS new case-patients and 30 age and gender-matched healthy controls. Total RNA was extracted and was turned into cDNA. Then mRNA expression was measured by Real-time PCR and final data was analyzed by LinRegPCR and REST software.Results: Fold Change expression of RPS6KB gene in MS patient was 1.701 ± 0.170 (P=0.009) regardless of gender, 1.588 ± 0.702 (P=0. 198) in men and 1.654 ± 0.16 (P=0.001) in women.Conclusion: mTOR signaling pathway is interconnected with MS and RPS6KB1 is one of the main genes in this pathway. Increased expression of RPS6KB1 could be caused by rs180515 polymorphism, located at the 3’UTR of RPS6KB1 gene.

Keywords:

Multiple Sclerosis , mTOR pathway , RPS6KB1 , Real-Time PCR