PLoS ONE (Jan 2013)

European ancestry predominates in neuromyelitis optica and multiple sclerosis patients from Brazil.

  • Doralina Guimarães Brum,
  • Marcelo Rizzatti Luizon,
  • Antônio Carlos Santos,
  • Marco Aurélio Lana-Peixoto,
  • Cristiane Franklin Rocha,
  • Maria Lucia Brito,
  • Enedina Maria Lobato de Oliveira,
  • Denis Bernardi Bichuetti,
  • Alberto Alan Gabbai,
  • Denise Sisterolli Diniz,
  • Damacio Ramon Kaimen-Maciel,
  • Elizabeth Regina Comini-Frota,
  • Claudia E Vieira Wiezel,
  • Yara Costa Netto Muniz,
  • Roberta Martins da Silva Costa,
  • Celso Teixeira Mendes-Junior,
  • Eduardo Antônio Donadi,
  • Amilton Antunes Barreira,
  • Aguinaldo Luiz Simões

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058925
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 3
p. e58925

Abstract

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BackgroundNeuromyelitis optica (NMO) is considered relatively more common in non-Whites, whereas multiple sclerosis (MS) presents a high prevalence rate, particularly in Whites from Western countries populations. However, no study has used ancestry informative markers (AIMs) to estimate the genetic ancestry contribution to NMO patients.MethodsTwelve AIMs were selected based on the large allele frequency differences among European, African, and Amerindian populations, in order to investigate the genetic contribution of each ancestral group in 236 patients with MS and NMO, diagnosed using the McDonald and Wingerchuck criteria, respectively. All 128 MS patients were recruited at the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto (MS-RP), Southeastern Brazil, as well as 108 healthy bone marrow donors considered as healthy controls. A total of 108 NMO patients were recruited from five Neurology centers from different Brazilian regions, including Ribeirão Preto (NMO-RP).Principal findingsEuropean ancestry contribution was higher in MS-RP than in NMO-RP (78.5% vs. 68.7%) patients. In contrast, African ancestry estimates were higher in NMO-RP than in MS-RP (20.5% vs. 12.5%) patients. Moreover, principal component analyses showed that groups of NMO patients from different Brazilian regions were clustered close to the European ancestral population.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate that European genetic contribution predominates in NMO and MS patients from Brazil.