A Study on the Association of Ccrl2 Atypical Chemokine Receptor Polymorphism with the Disease Progression of Multiple Sclerosis in Turkish Patients: Insights From a Negative Study.

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a multifactorial disease resulting from the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Although several genetic polymorphisms have been associated with MS pathogenesis, the role of atypical chemokine receptors (ACKRs) remains insufficiently elucidated. Experimental studies suggest that CCRL2, an ACKR, may play a role in the chronic phase of the disease. This study aimed to investigate whether the CCRL2 F167Y polymorphism is associated with MS susceptibility, age at disease onset, and disease severity. Methods: A total of 134 patients with MS, diagnosed according to the 2017 McDonald criteria, and 44 healthy controls were included. The CCRL2 F167Y (rs3204849) polymorphism was analyzed using the PCR-RFLP method. Genotype and allele frequencies and their associations with clinical parameters were evaluated using appropriate statistical analyses. Results: No significant differences in genotype or allele distributions were observed between patients and controls. The F167Y polymorphism was not associated with MS susceptibility, age at onset, or EDSS scores. Conclusion: The CCRL2 F167Y polymorphism is not associated with MS pathogenesis or disease severity in the Turkish population. However, the present findings need to be confirmed and reinforced in future studies using large-scale populations with different ethnicities.