\ref{239014}BACKGROUND:Multiple sclerosis (MS) as an auto-immunedisease is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervoussystem. Certain genes have shown to be involved in the initiation of MS but thespecific role of some of them e.g. IFNAR1has not been identified in certain populations yet. OBJECTIVE: TheIFNAR1 as a type I membrane protein shapes one of the two chains of areceptor for interferons alpha and beta. METHODS: To find out how IFNAR1 functions inthe Iranian population the researchers compared the expression level of thisgene in relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) samples with normal individuals. RNAfrom the whole blood of 50 RR-MS patients and 50 normal controls wereextracted. All patients were HLA-DRB1*15 negative and were responders tointerferon-beta with a normal vitamin D level. The level of IFNAR1 gene expression was measuredusing quantitative RT-PCR. RESULTS: According to the results the RR-MS patients manifested astatistically higher expression level of IFNAR1 than their normal counterparts (p=0.012). Age-wisefemales between the ages 30 to 40 had a significant increase (p=0.046) but males under 30 showed a statistically meaningfuldecrease in the expression level (p=0.04). In terms of sex only the femalepatients manifested a statistically significant increase in IFNAR1(p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS:The overall results show anincrease in IFNAR1 level in MS patients treated with IFN-B.BACKGROUND:Multiple sclerosis (MS) as an auto-immunedisease is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervoussystem. Certain genes have shown to be involved in the initiation of MS but thespecific role of some of them e.g. IFNAR1has not been identified in certain populations yet. OBJECTIVE: TheIFNAR1 as a type I membrane protein shapes one of the two chains of areceptor for interferons alpha and beta. METHODS: To find out how IFNAR1 functions inthe Iranian population the researchers compared the expression level of thisgene in relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) samples with normal individuals. RNAfrom the whole blood of 50 RR-MS patients and 50 normal controls wereextracted. All patients were HLA-DRB1*15 negative and were responders tointerferon-beta with a normal vitamin D level. The level of IFNAR1 gene expression was measuredusing quantitative RT-PCR. RESULTS: According to the results the RR-MS patients manifested astatistically higher expression level of IFNAR1 than their normal counterparts (p=0.012). Age-wisefemales between the ages 30 to 40 had a significant increase (p=0.046) but males under 30 showed a statistically meaningfuldecrease in the expression level (p=0.04). In terms of sex only the femalepatients manifested a statistically significant increase in IFNAR1(p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS:The overall results show anincrease in IFNAR1 level in MS patients treated with IFN-B.\cite{Sayad}