Exon 7 Sequences of IL7RA Gene Identify Two New Variants with Susceptibility to Multiple Sclerosis in Iranian Patients

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disorder with neurodegenerative effects. It is usually seen among young adults and women. The aim of the present investigation was the study of IL7RA gene exon 7 and flanking intronic regions in MS patients compared with healthy control. In this case-control study, 100 MS patients in RelapsingRemitting phase and 87 healthy individuals were studied. DNA was extracted from whole blood cells, using Salting-out method. Samples were screened for variations in exon 7 and flanking intronic regions by direct sequencing. No mutation was found in the exon7, however 39 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were investigated. In addition, we found 2 variations that were significantly associated with MS in our population. Our study demonstrated no significant variation in Iranian MS population in exon 7 but we found 2 variations in flanking regions which were associated with MS. Further studies are required to define the effects of these SNPs on the IL7R protein in multiple sclerosis.