1Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institutes of Brain Science and State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
2Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, First Affi liated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350005, China

Abstract 

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and multiple sclerosis (MS) are both autoimmune inflammatory and demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system. Recently, more than 50 MS-susceptibility single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been detected outside the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the association of these identified non-MHC MS risk loci with Chinese patients with NMO. Thirty-five non-MHC SNPs were selected and genotyped by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) in 110 NMO patients and 332 controls from southeastern China. Among the 35 SNPs, only one, rs1800693 in the TNFRSF1A locus, was nominally associated with NMO (P = 0.045, OR = 1.550, 95% CI = 1.007–2.384). However, none of the 35 SNPs was associated with NMO after Bonferroni correction. Our results showed no association between these identified non-MHC MS risk loci and NMO, suggesting there are genetic differences in the etiology of NMO and MS.

Keywords

neuromyelitis optica; major histocompatibility complex; association; Chinese

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