Lack of Association Between CAT rs1001179 and SOD2 rs4880 Variants and Risk for Multiple Sclerosis

Objectives: Several lines of evidence point to a potential involvement of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS). Superoxide dismutase isoenzymes 1 and 2 (SOD1 and SOD2) and catalase (CAT) are key components of the enzymatic antioxidant defense system. Consequently, genetic variation in the genes encoding these enzymes may influence susceptibility to MS. However, previous studies examining the relationship between SOD1, SOD2, and CAT variants and MS susceptibility have yielded inconsistent findings. The present study aimed to investigate whether two common single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) in CAT and SOD2 are associated with MS risk in a Caucasian Spanish population. Methods: We investigated the CAT rs1001179 and SOD2 rs4880 variants in 300 patients with MS and 400 healthy controls using allele-specific TaqMan quantitative PCR assays. We further examined whether these variants were related to relevant clinical characteristics, including age at disease onset, disease severity, and clinical course/subtype. Results: Neither the genotype nor allele distributions of CAT rs1001179 and SOD2 rs4880 differed significantly between patients with MS and healthy controls. Furthermore, no significant relationships were observed between either variant and sex, age at disease onset, disease severity, or clinical MS subtype. Conclusions: The present study did not detect significant associations between the CAT rs1001179 or SOD2 rs4880 variants and MS susceptibility in the Caucasian Spanish population. Similarly, no significant associations were detected between these variants and the clinical characteristics evaluated. However, smaller genetic effects cannot be excluded.