Objective: We investigated the association between OAS1 gene polymorphism and susceptibility to central nervous system (CNS) involvement of enterovirus (EV)71 infection.
Methods: This case-control study was conducted among 180 children with EV71 infection, including 72 with mild infections without any complications and 108 with severe infections and CNS involvement; 201 children undergoing routine physical examination served as the healthy controls. For all the participants, the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at OAS1 rs2660 and rs1131454 were analyzed using SNPscan multiple SNP typing methods.
Results: No significant differences were found between the case and control groups in genotype or allele distributions of rs2660 and rs1131454. OAS1 rs2660 polymorphism was significantly different between the children with CNS involvement and those with mild EV71 infection, and the genotype AG frequency was higher and the genotype GG frequency was lower in children with CNS involvement. No significant difference was found in the distribution of genotypes or alleles of rs1131454 between the children with CNS involvement and those with mild EV71 infection.
Conclusion: OAS1 gene rs2660 and rs1131454 SNPs are not associated with the susceptibility to or CNS involvement of EV71 infection, but OAS1 rs2660 SNPs are significantly correlated with the susceptibility to CNS involvement in EV71 infection. Children carrying OAS1 rs2660 AG genotype are more likely to have CNS involvement after EV71 infection.
Keywords: 2′, 5′-oligoadenylate synthetase; central nervous system; enterovirus 71; genetic polymorphisms.