Genes Variants and the Risk for Restless Legs Syndrome.

According to several studies, inflammatory factors could be related to the pathogenesis of idiopathic restless legs syndrome (RLS). In addition, RLS and Parkinson's disease (PD) have shown a possible relationship, and recent studies have shown an association between rs1922452 and rs951818 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and the risk for PD. For these reasons, we investigated the possible association between common variants in the genes (which encoded proteins involved in inflammatory and autoimmune responses) and the risk for RLS in a Caucasian Spanish population. We assessed the frequencies of rs1922452, rs951818, and rs870849 genotypes and allelic variants in 285 patients with idiopathic RLS and 350 healthy controls using a specific -based qPCR assay. We also analyzed the possible influence of the genotypes' frequencies on several variables, including age at onset of RLS, gender, family history of RLS, and response to drugs commonly used in the treatment of RLS. We found a lack of association between the frequencies of genotypes and allelic variants of the 3 SNVs studied and the risk of RLS, and a weak though significant association between the rs1922452 GG genotype and an older age at onset of RLS. With the exception of this association, our findings suggest that common SNVs in the genes are not associated with the risk of developing idiopathic RLS in Caucasian Spanish people.