en Medical Genetics Medical Genetics Original Research Original Research <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">Background: </span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex human autoimmune-type inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS). MicroRNA-146a (miR-146a) belongs to an endogenous and non-coding RNA family with 18-22 nucleotides long, which modulates the innate and adaptive immune response. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; Methods: </span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">Our study aimed to investigate a possible association between <a name="_Hlk139847800">rs2910164 and rs2431697 </a>polymorphisms of the miR-146a gene and multiple sclerosis in the Iranian population. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">A total of 60 MS cases and 100 controls were recruited. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2431697 was genotyped by utilizing polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), and SNP rs2910164 was genotyped by using Tetra-primer ARMS-PCR. Statistical Analysis conducted by the chi-squared test utilizing SPSS version 21.0 Software. The Hardy</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span cambria="" math="" style="font-family:"><span style="font-style:normal">‐</span></span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">Weinberg equilibrium assumption was evaluated.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; Results: </span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">The results of the present study suggest the miR-146a gene rs2431697 polymorphism is not associated with multiple sclerosis. However, there is a significant relationship between polymorphism rs2910164 of the miR-146a gene and multiple sclerosis in the population studied (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P </span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">= 0.012</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">). </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; Conclusion: </span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">Our data provide evidence that the miR-146a gene may be involved in creating the susceptibility to MS in the Iranian population. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Multiple sclerosis, miR-146a, Tetra-primer ARMS-PCR., PCR-RFLP 1 5 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1560-4&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Atefeh Zamani atefehzamani.3213@gmail.com 200319475328460088740 200319475328460088740 No Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Masoumeh Dehghan Manshadi masoumehdehghan60@gmail.com 200319475328460088741 200319475328460088741 No 2. Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mansoureh Akouchekian akouchekian.m@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460088742 200319475328460088742 Yes Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Iman Salahshouri far isalahshouri@gmail.com 200319475328460088743 200319475328460088743 No Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran