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Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a presumed immune mediated disease of the central nervous system. An association between HLA antigens and susceptibility to multiple sclerosis (MS) has been established, especially in western Caucasians. Such associations have not been as clearly defined in many middle-eastern populations, where even the frequencies of specific HLA antigens remain unclear.
OBJECTIVES:
The objective of this work was to study the frequencies of different HLA class I subtypes in Egyptian patients with remitting-relapsing MS in order to find out genetic determinants to disease susceptibility among this genetic group.
METHODS:
All patients were subjected to complete history taking, full physical and neurological examination, routine lab investigations, MRI of the brain and/or spinal cord, and to HLA class I typing using the complement dependent microlymphocytotoxicity test. The results of HLA typing were compared to those of 20 healthy controls matched for age. Statistical significance was tested using the Chi-square test.
RESULTS:
The most frequent HLA class I subtypes in our study group were: HLA-A1, A2, B7, A28, and Cw6. Among those subtypes only HLA-B7 showed a statistically significant association with the MS patients
and was also significantly associated with the presence of emotional disturbance. The HLA-A2 subtype was significantly associated with the absence of sphincteric disturbance in the MS patients.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, our study confirmed the established relation between the (MHC) and susceptibility to remitting-relapsing MS. However, our study suggests new loci within this complex that modulate MS susceptibility in the Egyptian population other than the previously acknowledged HLA-DR2 subtype. The HLA class I subtype: HLA-B7 showed a statistically significant association with disease susceptibility in our study group marking a new and an important role for HLA class I in conferring susceptibility to remitting-relapsing MS in the Egyptian population.