Investigating the expression of RELN and DAB1 genes in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients

Abstract

In the present study, we assessed expression levels of RELN and Disabled-1 (DAB1), two key genes in RELN signaling pathway, in peripheral blood of 50 RRMS patients and 50 matched healthy subjects.Materials and methods:We performed a case–control study of 50 RRMS patients (38 females and 12 males, mean age: 39.6 ± 1.28, age at onset: 30.82 ± 1.39, duration of disease: 8.76 ± 0.89, EDSS: 2.38 ± 0.16) and 50 age and gender matched healthy controls (37 females and 13 males, mean age: 47.06 ± 14.65). RNA was extracted, after reverse transcription of total RNA, the first-strand cDNA was used as a template for detection of RELN and DAB1 expression by using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) with TaqMan.Results:RELN expression was significantly reduced in MS patients compared with healthy controls (Relative Expression =−0.64, Pvalue = 0.008). There was no statistically significant difference in DAB1 expression level between MS patients and healthy controls (P value = 0.96, 95% CI = −1.1 to 0.32).