Copy number variation at the complement C4 locus is associated with risk for multiple sclerosis
Jacqueline Williams1, Wesley M Marin1, Kristen J Wade1
1Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Background:
The complement system has been suspected to play a role in multiple sclerosis (MS) due to presence of complement activation products in MS lesions.
Objective:
We sought to understand whether variation in the complement component 4 (C4) gene is associated with MS.
Methods:
Here we used next-generation sequencing and our novel bioinformatics tool, C4Investigator, to interrogate C4 copy number variation in MS.
Results:
We found higher overall copy number of C4 in controls (p < 10-16, odds ratio (OR) = 0.43, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.37-0.49) compared to MS patients with European ancestry.
Conclusion:
This finding suggests that lower C4 copies confer risk for MS, similar to associations seen in other autoimmune disorders.
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