Interleukin-1B and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene polymorphisms in Greek multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with bout-onset MS

We investigated the association of specific polymorphisms of the interleukin IL-1b (AvaI −511 and TaqI +3,953) and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RN) (a variable number of tandem repeats; VNTR) genes with both the susceptibility to and the clinical characteristics in Greek multiple sclerosis (MS) patients cohort with bout-onset. Genotypes were determined from 351 patients with clinically definite MS and 375 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Our results showed no significant differences in the distribution of these polymorphisms between MS patients and controls. Furthermore, stratification for clinical characteristics, such as age at disease onset, clinical course, sex, and severity did not provide significant differences between patients and controls. Together, our findings suggest that IL-1B and IL-1RN gene polymorphisms may not be relevant to the susceptibility to MS or the clinical characteristics of Greek MS patients.