Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder of central nervous system with several genetic and environmental risk factors. Genes with regulatory roles on immune system have been implicated in its pathogenesis. Recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to control some aspects of immune response. Among them is antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 locus (ANRIL) whose involvement in NF-κB signaling pathway has been highlighted. In the current study, we evaluated the association between rs1333045, rs4977574, rs1333048, and rs10757278 variants of ANRIL and MS risk in a population of 410 Iranian MS patients and 410 healthy subjects. There was no significant difference in allele and genotype frequencies between MS patients and healthy subjects. However, haplotype analysis (rs1333045, rs1333048, rs4977574, and rs10757278 respectively) demonstrated protective effect of CCGG and TAAA haplotypes against MS (P values of 0.043 and 0.0026 respectively). In addition, TAGG and CCGA haplotypes were significantly associated with MS risk in the studied population (P values of 0.0065 and 0.024 respectively). The present study reveals a possible role for ANRIL in the pathogenesis of MS.
Keywords: ANRIL; Association study; Multiple sclerosis; lncRNA.