An interdependence between GAPVD1 gene polymorphism, expression level and response to interferon beta in patients with multiple sclerosis

Interferon-β (IFN-β) is among the first drugs used for reducing the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Many studies show that the genetic predisposition of patients might modulate their response to IFN-β treatment. In this study GAPVD1 gene expression and the genotyping of rs2291858 variant were analysed in 100 responder and 100 non-responder patients with MS treated using IFN-β. Moreover, rs2291858 genotyping was performed for 200 patients with MS and 200 healthy controls. GAPVD1 expression was significantly increased in the responder patients than in non-responders and the distribution of rs2291858 polymorphism was significantly different between them. The GAPVD1 expression level in AA genotype of the responder group was higher than that in other genotypes of these two groups. The results show that the GAPVD1 expression level and rs2291858 genotype probably affect the response to IFN- β in patients with MS.