IL-1 genes in myasthenia gravis:: IL-1A-889 polymorphism associated with sex and age of disease onset

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a multifactorial autoimmune disease of the neuromuscular junction. We investigated the relation between four polymorphisms of the interleukin (IL)-1 gene cluster on 2q12-22, and MG susceptibility and clinical features in a large cohort of individuals. No polymorphism was associated with MG susceptibility. However, the IL-1A - 889 CC genotype was associated with early disease onset (p = 0.0044) in the whole MG group and the subgroup of CC males developed MG about 18 years earlier than males carrying other IL-1A - 889 genotypes (p = 0.022). This finding suggests that IL-1A is a disease modifier in MG. or is in linkage disequilibrium with an unknown locus on chromosome 2. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.