Association between the endogenous retrovirus HRES-1 and multiple sclerosis in the United Kingdom -- evidence of genetically different disease subsets?

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Rasmussen, H.B. | Kelly, M.A. | Francis, D.A. | Clausen, J.

Affiliations: Department of Life Sciences and Chemistry, Roskilde University, PO Box 260, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark | Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom | Queen Elizabeth Neurosciences Centre, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TH, United Kingdom

Abstract: In the present study we determined the frequencies of four haplotypes of the human T-cell lymphotropic virus-related endogenous sequence, HRES-1, in 110 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 100 healthy control subjects from the United Kingdom. We found evidence of an association between this endogenous retrovirus and MS (p < 0.01), in particular reflecting an increased frequency of HRES-1 haplotype 1 in the group of patients. There was no significant difference in the distribution of HRES-1 haplotypes between relapsing-remitting MS and the primary progressive form of the disease. The odds ratio for HRES-1 haplotype 1 and MS did not differ significantly between individuals positive for HLA-DR2 and DR2-negative individuals. Comparison of the observations from the present study with previous results implicated HRES-1 as a marker of genetic heterogeneity in MS.

Keywords: multiple sclerosis, endogenous retrovirus, genetic susceptibility factor

Journal: Disease Markers, vol. 16, no. 3-4, pp. 101-104, 2000