INTERLEUKIN-10 (IL-10) PROMOTER POLYMORPHISM AT POSITION -1082 IN BULGARIAN PATIENTS WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

The role of promoter polymorphism within IL10 (rs1800896) in multiple sclerosis (MS) is not well established. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between -1082A/G polymorphism in interleukin-10 and genetic predisposition to MS development and onset of disease in Bulgarian patients. A group of 159 patients with relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) and 221 age-sex-matched controls were genotyped by amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS)-PCR. Our results demonstrated statistically significant elevation of the AA-genotype frequency in RRMS cases, compared to controls (38.4% vs. 28.5% with OR = 1.561, 95% CI = 0.989 divided by 2.464, P = 0.043). In addition, AA-genotype was overrepresented in cases with late-onset of disease than controls (44% vs. 28.5% with OR = 1.971, 95% CI = 1.107 divided by 3.508, P = 0.013). We also found that the carrying of AG-genotype was associated with a 1.8 fold increase of risk for early-onset of RRMS. In conclusion, our present results indicate that AA-genotype of -1082 G/A SNP in IL10 (rs1800896) might be accepted as a risk factor for RRMS susceptibility in Bulgarian patients and could be associated with manifestation of disease after the age of 30 years.