MOBP rs616147 Polymorphism and Risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in a Greek Population: A Case-Control Study

Background and Objectives: To date, only one study has investigated the association between the rs616147 polymorphism of the Myelin-associated Oligodendrocyte Basic Protein (MOBP) locus and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Materials and Methods: A case-control study was performed. Patients with definite sporadic ALS were prospectively and consecutively recruited from the inpatient and outpatient clinics of the Neurology Department of the General University Hospital of Larissa, Central Greece. Community based, age and sex matched healthy individuals with a free personal and family history constituted the control group. Results: A total of 155 patients with definite sporadic ALS and an equal number of healthy controls were genotyped. The power of our sample size was slightly above 80% and MOBP rs616147 was determined to be in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium among healthy participants (p = 1.00). According to the univariate analysis, there was no significant relationship between rs616147 and ALS [log-additive OR = 0.85 (0.61, 1.19), over-dominant OR = 0.73 (0.46, 1.15), recessive OR = 1.02 (0.50, 2.09), dominant OR = 0.74 (0.47, 1.16), co-dominant OR(1) = 0.71 (0.44, 1.14) and co-dominant OR(2) = 0.88 (0.42, 1.84). Additionally, the effect of rs616147 on the age of ALS onset was determined insignificant using both unadjusted and adjusted (sex, site of onset) cox-proportional models. Finally, rs616147 was not related to the site of ALS onset. Conclusions: Our study is the first to report the absence of an association between MOBP rs616147 and ALS among individuals of Greek ancestry. Additional, larger nationwide and multi-ethnic studies are warranted to shed light on the connection between rs616147 and ALS.