E-Book 2nd Congress

  • Interferon gamma as a biomarker of multiple sclerosis
  • seyyed Amin seyyedrezaei,1,* Mohammad Asgharzadeh,2 Vahid Asgharzadeh,3
    1. Faculty of paramedicine, Tabriz University of medical sciences, Tabriz, Iran
    2. Faculty of paramedicine, Tabriz University of medical sciences, Tabriz, Iran
    3. Faculty of medicine, Tabriz University of medical sciences, Tabriz, Iran


  • Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common diseases related to central nervous system (CNS). It predominantly affects people between the ages of 20 and 50, and the prevalence of this disease is higher in women than men. This disease has increased significantly in recent decades in different countries. Even the countries with low prevalence of MS in the past, are now among the countries with high prevalence of MS. In order to control and reduce the prevalence of the disease, it is important to identify the patients in the early stages of the disease. Using different biomarkers for early identification of MS patients can be useful to control and reduce the prevalence of MS. Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) is one of these biomarkers. IFN-γ is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that is produced by some immune cells such as T helper1. This cytokine is the only member of type II interferon family and plays an important role in the function of the immune system against various pathogens. But the abnormal expression of this cytokine can cause some autoimmune diseases.
  • Methods: We reviewed 250 articles about IFN-gamma, multiple sclerosis and their relationships from January 1, 2017, to September 30, 2022, and finally used information in 10 of them to write this article.
  • Results: During this disease, activated T cells pass through the Blood-brain barrier (BBB) and enter the CNS and produce IFN-γ, which plays an important role in the pathogenesis of MS. In low doses, IFN-γ has a protective effect against microglia and oligodendrocytes, but in higher doses, it can have destructive effects. IFN-γ in high doses can aggravate damage to myelin and oligodendrocytes through inflammation, activation of macrophages or microglia, increase in the amount of inflammatory mediators and increasing MHC molecules. Therefore, IFN-γ is a key component in MS pathology, which has higher levels in serum and CSF of MS patients than healthy people.
  • Conclusion: Therefore, measuring the levels of IFN-γ as one of the biomarkers of MS can play an important role in the diagnosis of at-risk individuals and the diagnosis of patients in the early stages of the disease. The use of IFN-γ along with some other easy and low-cost tests such as other MS biomarkers can be used to accurately diagnose MS in less advantaged countries. Also, the measurement of IFN-γ along with several other MS biomarkers such as melatonin can be used as an easy and cost-effective screening test to check the at-risk people.
  • Keywords: MS, multiple sclerosis, IFN-γ, interferon gamma