Genetic markers in the blood of multiple sclerosis patients

Poligenetically determined predisposition to multiple sclerosis (MS) defines the way of immunological reaction to environmental factors and leads to clinically manifest disease. Although the connection between MS and some loci of the HLA system has been established, the hereditary predisposition to MS remains to be elucidated. We determined the phenotypes of monogenic hereditary characteristics linked to the surface of red blood cells that were obtained from 45 MS patients and 458 healthy subjects. The antigens on the erythrocytic surface of the ABO, Rh, MN, Ss, Kell, Kidd, Duffy, P and Lewis system were analyzed. Our results demonstrate that the MS patients differ from the normal subjects with regard to the Rh, ABO and Lewis erythrocytic antigens. The Rh positive factor was present in 95.55% of the MS patients compared to 84.29% of the controls, whereas the Rh negative factor was found in only 4.45% of the MS patients and 15.71% of the healthy subjects. The blood group O was demonstrated in 22.22% of the MS patients compared to 40.42% of the healthy persons. The MS patients had the blood group A in 15.11% of the cases as opposed to 43.99% of the subjects in the control groups. The blood group B was found in 22.22% of the MS patients compared to 11.10% of the controls. The distribution of the Lewis system in the MS patients was also demonstrated to be different from that in the general population. The MS patients were found to have less frequently the Le a+b- phenotype (11.12%) and more frequently Le a- b- (13.33%) compared to the healthy subjects who had the Le a+b- phenotype in 12.00% of the cases and Le a- b- in 5.00%.