genetics

Regions of DNA called super-enhancers regulate immune cell activity, including the body’s response to threats like inflammation or pathogens, and now scientists have found that they also harbor genetic variants associated with autoimmune diseases — gene variants that may be the “master switches” for these conditions. The findings were described in the study “…

Researchers at the University of Buffalo’s Hunter James Kelly Research Institute (HJKRI) discovered that the cells that form myelin in the nervous system respond to mechanical stimulation by activating molecules from a specific pathway, which are transferred to the nucleus, triggering myelination. The findings, which may be key to developing new therapies…

Some forms of multiple sclerosis are hereditary after all. After many years of saying that MS is not passed down the generations, new research now says the opposite. Although past studies have suggested that genetic risk factors could increase the risk of developing the disease, up until now, there has been…

A single genetic mutation in a gene called Nr1h3, can cause familial multiple sclerosis (MS), reported scientists from the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health. The study, “Nuclear Receptor NR1H3 in Familial Multiple Sclerosis” was published in the journal Neuron. The discovery…

The use of induced pluripotent stem cells to create disease-specific neurons and oligodendrocytes for the study of multiple sclerosis (MS) is hampered by the huge variability of features such cells possess. To get around this problem, researchers from Ohio State University created an atlas of how cell characteristics are linked…

Researchers detected the expression of the gene ANKRD55  in immune cells, a gene that has been previously linked to multiple sclerosis (MS) in mice models of the disease. The results suggest a potential role of ANKRD55 in MS pathogenesis. The study, “Novel Insights into the Multiple Sclerosis Risk Gene ANKRD55,”…

Professor Steve Wilton and Dr. Rakesh Veedu from Murdoch University’s Centre for Comparative Genomics in Western Australia received project grants of $50,000 and $25,000, respectively, to investigate and develop new methods for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). The grants are part of $1.834 million in research funding given by MS…

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, working in the fruit fly model, identified an organic cation transporter, CarT (carcinine transporter), that is crucial to the recycling of histamine in the brain and the maintenance of healthy vision. Histamine is a neurotransmitter involved in chronic inflammation and pathogenesis in multiple…

In an innovative research project funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Dr. Anne Astier from the University of Edinburgh, U.K., and her team will use zebrafish to track the CD46 protein and determine where and how it affects the movement of immune cells into the brain, a process believed to influence…

The U.S. Senate health committee recently passed the “Advancing Research for Neurological Diseases Act of 2015” (S. 849), sponsored by Sens. Johnny Isakson and Chris Murphy, which would create a nationwide system to track the incidence and prevalence of neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), and that one day might help lead to a…

A Spanish study showed that relapse and remission in multiple sclerosis (MS) states are regulated by small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) molecules in patterns differing between men and women. Scientists have increasingly realized that sncRNAs play an important role in the regulation of gene expression. Various kinds of these RNA molecules, such as…

A research team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) launched a study on people at risk for developing multiple sclerosis (MS), a debilitating disease that affects more than 400,000 people in the United States and about…

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF) are asking African-Americans with multiple sclerosis, as well as family members, to participate in new studies into the genetic origins of the disease. The studies will investigate both people of African ancestry with MS, who are known to have low susceptibility for the disease, and those of Northern European descent,…

Researchers have described the mechanisms by which cell precursors of oligodendrocytes — the cells responsible for the generation of myelin in the central nervous system — migrate from their birthplace to their workplace during brain and spinal cord development, and begin to mature and wrap about nerve fibers. The finding, the authors…

A study from the University of Cambridge showed that the membrane-bound signaling protein EphrinB3, which acts by inhibiting the maturation of oligodendrocytes, also blocks the remyelination of damaged neurons in multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, “Antibody-mediated neutralization of myelin-associated EphrinB3 accelerates CNS re-myelination,“ uncovered a new target to explore…

A Colombian study reported finding an increased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) associated with a particular allele, or gene variant, in a group of patients from the Colombian capital, Bogotá. The study also found a protective allele — HLA-DRB1*14 — that might explain the low rates of MS observed throughout the…

A team of researchers recently discovered two novel multiple sclerosis (MS)-associated genes that are regulated by vitamin D levels. The study, titled “The multiple sclerosis susceptibility genes TAGAP and IL2RA are regulated by vitamin D in CD4+ T cells,” was published in the advanced online section of …

In a new study entitled “Transcriptional response to interferon beta-1a treatment in patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis,” a team of researchers discovered a subgroup of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis patients (SPMS) exhibiting the same gene expression response to interferon (IFN) treatment as patients with relapsing-remitting MS…

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and the Multiple Sclerosis Scientific Research Foundation recently announced the funding of new research on pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS) and on the role played by the gut microbiome in brain and autoimmune diseases. Although only around 5% of all newly diagnosed MS cases…

In a new study, researchers have revealed the previously unknown function of the FAM126A gene in supporting myelination (the formation of the myelin sheath that protects neurons), a critically important process in the development and recovery of acute exacerbations in multiple sclerosis (MS). The research paper, entitled “The leukodystrophy protein…

Sanofi, a global healthcare leader, and the Institut Pasteur, an internationally renowned center for biomedical research, recently honored four researchers with the Sanofi – Institut Pasteur Awards 2015 for their work in the fields of immunology and tropical and neglected diseases. One of the awardees, laureate in the Senior…

A Satellite Symposia entitled “Discovering a new world in MS” supported by Teva Neuroscience was held yesterday, October 8, at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), currently taking place in Barcelona, Spain, October 7 – 10, 2015. Prof. David Brassat…

Two new risk factors for multiple sclerosis have been identified by a research group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Led by Dr. Loukas Moutsianas, the team discovered that having HLA-DQA1*01:01–HLA-DRB1*15:01 and HLA-DQB1*03:01–HLA-DQB1*03:02 gene allele…

In a new study entitled “Variants of MicroRNA Genes: Gender-Specific Associations with Multiple Sclerosis Risk and Severity,” researchers identified variations in genes coding for microRNAs that influence patients’ susceptibility to develop multiple sclerosis, as well as the disease course. Most importantly, these variations were gender specific, identified only…

An international team led by researchers at McGill University in Canada recently published in the journal PLOS Medicine data supporting a link between low vitamin D levels and the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). The study is entitled “Vitamin D and Risk of Multiple…

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and the Multiple Sclerosis Scientific Research Foundation (MSSRF) have announced the awarding of a $3.2 million grant in support of the Canadian Pediatric Demyelinating Disease Network. Canada has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the world, and is one of the…

An Open Access research article published in the journal BMC Medical Genetics notes that multiple sclerosis (MS) has a strong genetic component, observing high MS prevalence in European populations including those of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, and low in African and Asian populations also including those of…

Personalized medicine, often applied to treat cancer, may be possible for patients with multiple sclerosis as well. Certain patients respond differently to certain multiple sclerosis medications, such as interferon-β (IFNβ), and researchers at San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan may have an answer as to why. The team, led by…

Alexander Gow, Ph.D., a professor at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has just been awarded a research grant by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to fund his exploration of a novel model of MS pathology. Gow is a holder of the Charles H. Gershenson Distinguished Fellow Professor…

In a recent meta-analysis published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, a team of researchers found evidence regarding the association between specific polymorphisms of the gene CD24 and MS using a method that combined data from case-control studies with family-based data. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and…