Lack of association between CD226 genetic variants and inflammatory demyelinating diseases in Korean population.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to find the possible association between CD226 polymorphisms and inflammatory demyelinating diseases in Korean population. METHODS: A total of 14 CD226 SNPs were selected based on their linkage disequilibrium, minor allele frequency, and location. Then, the SNPs were genotyped in 178 IDD patients and 237 healthy controls. Subsequently, we conducted logistic analysis to find possible associations RESULTS: Statistical analyses revealed only a marginal signal for a common SNP rs1788229 with inflammatory demyelinating disease (p=0.05), while other SNPs failed to show associations with any diseases. However, the significance of rs1788229 disappeared after a multiple testing correction of the data (p>0.05). Interestingly, rs763361, which showed significant associations with multiple sclerosis in several previous studies, did not show any association at all. CONCLUSIONS: While prior studies have found CD226 polymorphisms to be significantly associated with inflammatory demyelinating diseases, our results indicate the CD226 polymorphisms to be not associated with the diseases in Korean population. However, our results suggest that the causal genes for inflammatory demyelinating diseases may vary depending on the population.