CTLA-4 gene polymorphism may modulate disease in Japanese multiple sclerosis patients

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is widely believed to have a T-cell-mediated autoimmune etiology. The CTLA-4 gene is a strong candidate for involvement in autoimmune diseases because it plays an important role in the termination of T-cell activation. To examine the genetic association of the CTLA-4 gene locus with MS, we analyzed the CTLA-4 gene exon 1 A/G polymorphism in 74 Japanese MS patients and 93 controls. We also investigated the possible interactions of the CTLA-4 gene polymorphism with clinical course and severity, with MRI findings, with another genetic marker-HLA antigens, and with oligoclonal bands (OCB) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The CTLA-4 exon 1 polymorphism was similar between MS patients and controls. Conversely, clinical disability was significantly more severe in AA homozygous patients than in the other patients, and the allele frequency and the phenotype frequency of the A allele were significantly higher in patients with severe-grade MRI findings of cerebral white matter than in patients with mild-grade MRI findings. The allele frequency and the phenotype frequency of the A allele were significantly higher in patients with OCB than in patients without. This CTLA-4 polymorphism may modulate the prognosis of patients with MS and may be relevant to generation of OCB in the CSF.