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IL-7Rα and multiple sclerosis risk

Nature Genetics volume 39, pages 1053–1054 (2007)Cite this article

The discovery of genetic risk factors for multiple sclerosis has proven difficult. IL-7Rα, encoded by IL7R, is a pleiomorphic cytokine receptor now implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis in independently replicated genetic association studies.

Multiple sclerosis is a patchy demyelinating disease of adults causing nervous system deficits with an unpredictable disease course and, often, substantial disability. With an identical twin concordance of ∼25%–30% and a relative risk to siblings (λs) of ∼30 (ref. 1), multiple sclerosis should be a promising problem for complex disease genetics. However, experience has shown otherwise. Despite several decades of work by many investigators, no genetic association beyond the HLA region has been replicated. This situation is now changed by three reports: Gregory et al.2 and Lundmark et al.3 on pages 1083 and 1108 of this issue, respectively, and a partially independent genome scan from The International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium4 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Together, these studies establish and replicate the association of IL7R polymorphisms with multiple sclerosis among individuals of European ancestry.

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Figure 1: Large sample sizes are required to detect genetic associations of small effects, under any model of inheritance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. and the US Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, John B. Harley is in the Arthritis and Immunology Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, 825 N.E. 13th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104, USA, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104, USA. harley@omrf.org,

    John B Harley

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Harley, J. IL-7Rα and multiple sclerosis risk. Nat Genet 39, 1053–1054 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0907-1053

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