CCL2 Polymorphism in Drug-Resistant and Drug-Responsive Patients with Epilepsy in Isfahan, Iran

Background and objective: Approximately 50 million people worldwide (1% of the world s population) suffer from epilepsy. Among 700 thousand people with epilepsy in Iran, 20% have refractory epilepsy. Accumulation of leukocytes in patients brain parenchyma is thought to be related to different types of epilepsy. Recent clinical observations suggest that therapeutic strategies that interfere with leukocytes or cause them to migrate may have therapeutic efficacy in epilepsy. The aim of this study was to identify treatment-resistant patients, and investigate the association between polymorphism rs1024611 in CCL2 gene and drug resistance in patients with epilepsy in Isfahan, Iran. Methods: Blood samples were taken from 50 patients with intractable epilepsy (case group) and 50 drug-responsive patients with epilepsy (control group). Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood by salting out method. Specific primers were designed by Oligo 7 software to investigate polymorphism rs1024611 using PCR-RFLP. The preliminary results for a number of samples were confirmed by sequencing. Results: The results of this study showed that there was a significant relationship between intractable epilepsy and presence of C allele. Conclusion: Similar to previous study, we found a significant association between CCL2 gene polymorphism and drug-resistant epilepsy.