Inverse correlation of genetic risk score with age at onset in bout-onset and progressive-onset multiple sclerosis

Abstract

We correlated the weighted genetic risk score measured using 107 established susceptibility variants for multiple sclerosis (MS) with the age at onset in bout-onset (BOMS, n=906) and progressive-onset MS Italian patients (PrMS) (n=544). We observed an opposite relationship in the two disease courses: a higher weighted genetic risk score was associated with an earlier age at onset in BOMS (rho= −0.1; p=5 × 10⁻³) and a later age at onset in PrMS cases (rho=0.07; p=0.15) (p of difference of regression=1.4 × 10⁻²). These findings suggest that established MS risk variants anticipate the onset of the inflammatory phase, while they have no impact on, or even delay, the onset of the progressive phase.