Differential expression of STAT3 gene and its regulatory long non-coding RNAs, namely lnc-DC and THRIL, in two eastern Iranian ethnicities with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) revealed that variants of STAT3 are associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) risk. There are several studies showing the effect of ethnicity and genetic background on the characteristics of MS. Here, we aimed to investigate STAT3 gene expression status along with its two regulatory long non-coding RNAs, lnc-DC and THRIL, in order to compare the expression of these target genes among two different ethnicities in the east of Iran.