Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 1735-1502 15 1 2016 01 31 75 81 EN Kabir Hamid Department of Pathobiology, Immunology Division, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences- International Campus (TUMS-IC), Tehran, Iran AND Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria Ahmad Nejati Department of Virology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Zabihollah Shoja Department of Virology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran Yaghoub Mollaei-Kandelousd Immunology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Rozita Doosti MS Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Abbas Mirshafiey Department of Pathobiology, Immunology Division, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Abbas Tafakhori Iranian Center of Neurological Research, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Ali Sahraian MS Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Sayed Mahdi Marashi Department of Virology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2015 10 30 2015 11 01 Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system characterized by a complex immune response. Because of the complex nature of MS pathogenesis, a panel of biomarkers derived from different platforms will be required to reflect disease-related alterations. Monitoring and evaluation of molecules associated with the pathogenesis of the disease would provide useful information on disease progression and therapeutic assessment. In view of this, we evaluated the mRNA expression levels of B-cell activating factor (BAFF), high mobility group box 1 (HMGB-1), Toll like receptor (TLR) 4 and TLR7 in MS. These molecules are implicated in the pathogenesis of MS; however, they havereceived little attention. PBMCs were isolated from whole blood of 84 Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis patients and 70 healthy controls. Relative quantitative RT-PCR was applied to quantify the transcriptional levels of the immune markers. The mRNA expression levels of TLR7 were significantly elevated in RRMS patients than healthy controls. Whereas, TLR4 expression was found to be significantly lower in the patients than control group. We found no difference analyzing the mRNA levels of BAFF and HMGB1. Our data highlights the immune marker correlates in RRMS patients. However, further in-depth studies are warranted to check for their reliability of biomarkers in autoimmune diseases such as MS. https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/view/634 https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/download/634/598