Modulating effects of WT 1 on interferon‐ β ‐vitamin D association in MS

Objective To investigate whether those genes involved in the vitamin D pathway modulate the relationship between 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (25( OH )D) and IFN ‐ β , the relationship between IFN ‐ β and sun in predicting 25( OH )D, and the interaction between IFN ‐ β and 25( OH )D in modulating relapse risk in patients with MS . Methods Prospective cohort study of 169 participants with MS and genotype data followed 2002–2005. Gene‐ IFN ‐ β and gene‐ IFN ‐ β ‐sun interactions predicting 25( OH )D evaluated by multilevel mixed‐effects linear regression. Gene‐ IFN ‐ β interactions with 25( OH )D in modulating in relapse risk assessed using survival analysis. Results The cohort was 71.6% female and of mean age 47.8. Two‐independent intronic genotyped SNP s (rs10767935 and rs5030244) in WT 1 significantly modified the IFN ‐ β ‐25( OH )D association after adjustment (P interaction  = 0.001, 0.0002; P adj  = 0.003, 0.006, respectively). There was a marked difference in the interaction between self‐reported sun exposure and IFN ‐ β in predicting 25( OH )D by level of rs10767935, although this did not reach statistical significance. No SNP s modified the interaction between IFN ‐ β and 25( OH )D in predicting relapse. Conclusions We have demonstrated that two‐independent SNP s (rs10767935 and rs5030244) in WT 1 modified the IFN ‐ β ‐25( OH )D association in patients with MS . Some evidence was shown for a difference in the sun‐ IFN ‐ β ‐25( OH )D association by level of rs10767935. These findings indicate that WT 1 variants may play a role in altering the effects of IFN ‐ β on vitamin D in MS .