Scientists Find First Gene Mutation For Multiple Sclerosis

[Judi Lynn]

Scientists Find First Gene Mutation For Multiple Sclerosis

(Prensa Latina) Canadian scientists of the Univ. of British Colombia today reported that a single genetic mutation of NR1H3 can increase in 70 percent the chances of getting multiple sclerosis a major finding that they said should erase doubts that at least some forms of MS are inherited.

The mutation was found in two Canadian families that had several members diagnosed with a rapidly progressive type of MS, in which a person's symptoms steadily worsen and for which there is no effective treatment.

The reserchers also found that the increse in Vitamin D helps prevents the disease.The finding will help them in creating new treatments.

MS is a neurodegenerative disease in which the immune system attacks the myelin that protects nerve fibers, upsetting the flow of information between the brain and the body.

It affects about 2,5 million people worldwide according to the World Health Organization.

http://www.plenglish.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4937001&Itemid=1

(Short article, no more at link.)

[Bearware]

1. For many neurological diseases with increasing incident rates, this appears to be part of a pattern.

Most neurological diseases that have an increasing incidence rate in the last half century or so tend to have a minority of cases (maybe 15% or so) that are primarily genetically caused. Then a large percentage (often the majority) of the rest of the cases are primarily autoimmune caused with an environmental trigger required. For the remaining cases you can have trauma, toxic exposure etc. that cause symptoms from damage to the same parts of the body (the myelin sheath for MS). This appears to apply to MS, type 1 diabetes, forms of celiac disease with neurological components, autism, thyroid disease with neurological components etc.

The statement "The reserchers also found that the increse in Vitamin D helps prevents the disease." applies to all of the above diseases too. This is not a big surprise because active vitamin D is a hormone that is essential to proper immune function and is an immune-modulator, Active vitamin D controls about 5% of our genes.

The increasing rates of all of these diseases is probably due to the fact that a significant percent of first world populations are deficient or insufficient on vitamin D which has developed over the last 60 odd years.

Note, the generalization of incidence percentage above applies to all the forms of the disease as a group. For example it applies to all cases MS but not subsets such as primary progressive MS as that already eliminates most non-genetic causes.

[Roy Rolling]

2. That type of MS is definitely genetic

A friend's mother died in her fifties and my friend was stricken, too, and died in a nursing home during Hurricane Katrina with 32 others.

Of course, this is not the result of years of medical research. It is just my personal experience.

[nitpicker]

3. Link to another article

http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/genetic-origin-of-multiple-sclerosis-discovered/81252785/

[nitpicker]

4. And even more detail at the link below

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160601132134.htm