Latest Doctors News
New MS risk factors discovered
Published On: 11th August 2011
By: Joe Elvin
Medical researchers have discovered 29 new genetic risk factors for developing multiple sclerosis.
Most of the genes discovered by the UK-based team were linked to immunity sparking suggestions that MS may develop when the immune system turns against itself. Factors such as Vitamin D consumption and viral infections were also discovered to play some role in developing the condition.
In what has been described as the biggest study into genes and MS to date, researchers were also able to confirm 23 additional factors already discovered by medical professionals. Another five were labelled as 'strongly suspected' to be factors, meaning the total number of genetic variations thought to cause MS is 57.
Speaking to Medical News Today, the study's co-author Alastair Compston explained that by identifying risk factors which can trigger MS, doctors can gain more knowledge of how to treat or possibly cure the condition.
Highlighting the importance of this doctors news, he said: "We have implicated genes that are highly relevant to the actions of those drugs. It is not clear that multiple sclerosis is primarily an immunological disease. This is the way to nail this disease and get on top of it."
BBC News report that around 2.5 million people worldwide and 100,000 people from the UK suffer from MS.