No association of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) DNA polymorphisms with multiple sclerosis

Neuropoietins such as leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) have been shown to ameliorate experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and promote oligodendrocyte survival in vivo. We tested whether two previously described LIF polymorphisms are associated with MS by genotyping these single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a group of MS patients (n=110), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (n=120) and healthy controls (HC, n=109). Similar allele and genotype frequencies for both SNPs were found for all study groups. Furthermore, no associations with MS type or HLA-DR2 expression could be found. In summary, no association was found between the studied LIF DNA polymorphisms and the prevalence of MS indicating that these polymorphisms are not involved in determining disease susceptibility.