allele impact on pediatric multiple sclerosis in a Hellenic cohort.

BACKGROUND

Pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS) is considered a complex disease entity with many genetic and environmental factors implicated in its pathogenesis. Linkage studies in Caucasian adult populations consistently demonstrate the major histocompatibility complex and its (human leukocyte antigen) polymorphisms as the genetic locus most strongly linked to MS.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the frequencies and possible clinical and imaging correlations of alleles in a Hellenic POMS sample.

METHODS

Fifty POMS patients fulfilling the IPMSSG (International Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Study Group) criteria were enrolled using 144 adult-onset MS (AOMS) patients and 246 healthy controls for comparisons. genotyping was performed with standard low-resolution sequence-specific oligonucleotide (SSO) techniques. Clinical and imaging correlations with specific alleles were also examined.

RESULTS

The genotype was significantly higher in POMS patients compared to both the AOMS population (26% vs. 12.5%,  = 0.042) and the general population (26% vs. 12.6%,  = 0.004). -positive POMS patients had significantly more relapses (6.9 ± 4.9 vs. 4.2 ± 4.4,  = 0.005) and more thoracic spinal cord lesions than negative patients (61.5% vs. 27%,  = 0.043).

CONCLUSION

In our Hellenic population, allele confers increased risk for POMS and it is also correlated with possibly increased disease activity, expanding the existing knowledge on associations and POMS.