Journal of the Neurological Sciences
Volume 205, Issue 1 , Pages 47-50, 15 December 2002

An assessment of the association between IL-2 gene polymorphisms and Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis

  • Seiji Kikuchi

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-15 Nishi-7, Kita-ku, 060-8638 Sapporo, Japan
    • ,
  • Masaaki Niino

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +81-11-700-5375; fax: +81-11-700-5356.
    • Department of Neurology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-15 Nishi-7, Kita-ku, 060-8638 Sapporo, Japan
    • ,
  • Toshiyuki Fukazawa

      Affiliations

    • Hokuyukai Neurology Hospital, Sapporo, Japan
    • ,
  • Ichiro Yabe

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-15 Nishi-7, Kita-ku, 060-8638 Sapporo, Japan
    • ,
  • Kunio Tashiro

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-15 Nishi-7, Kita-ku, 060-8638 Sapporo, Japan

Received 18 March 2002; received in revised form 30 July 2002; accepted 5 August 2002.

Abstract 

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a cytokine intimately involved with both the function and regulation of the immune system. Genetic analysis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) provides strong evidence supporting the candidacy of IL-2 as a susceptibility gene. We investigated the association of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at position −384 in the promoter region and +114 in the first exon of the IL-2 gene through a case-control study involving 113 Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and 118 healthy controls. Our results showed no significant differences in the distribution of the two polymorphisms between MS patients and controls. Furthermore, no association was observed between IL-2 gene polymorphisms and clinical characteristics, such as clinical course and age at disease onset. Together, our findings suggest that IL-2 gene polymorphisms do not influence the susceptibility to MS or the clinical characteristics of MS in Japanese patients.

Keywords:  Genetics, Multiple sclerosis, Polymorphism, Japanese, Interleukin-2

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PII: S0022-510X(02)00307-6

Journal of the Neurological Sciences
Volume 205, Issue 1 , Pages 47-50, 15 December 2002

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