An international team of scientists including a strong Australian contingent has made a key discovery in new research to help find the cause and cure of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).<\/p>\n
The team, working under the umbrella of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC), identified 48\u00a0previously unknown genetic variants that influence the risk of developing MS.<\/p>\n
The discovery nearly doubles the number of known genetic risk factors and thereby provides additional key insights into the\u00a0biology of this debilitating neurological condition.<\/p>\n
The genes implicated by the newly identified associations underline the central role played by the immune system in the\u00a0development of MS and show substantial overlap with genes known to be involved in other autoimmune diseases such as\u00a0inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn\u2019s disease and celiac disease.<\/p>\n
The study published today in the medical journal, Nature Genetics, is the largest investigation of MS genetics to date.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Relying upon an international team of 193 investigators from 84 research groups in 13 countries, the study was led by the\u00a0University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and locally across Australia and New Zealand by Associate Professor David\u00a0Booth, MS Research Australia Senior Research Fellow from the Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney with\u00a0fellow scientists from the ANZgene Consortium (Australia and New Zealand MS Genetics Consortium).<\/p>\n
The research took advantage of ImmunoChip; a custom designed, cutting-edge genotyping technology that targets specific\u00a0sets of genetic variants linked to one or more autoimmune diseases. IMSGC researchers used the ImmunoChip platform to\u00a0analyse the DNA from 29,300 individuals with MS and 50,794 unrelated healthy controls, making this the largest genetics\u00a0study ever performed for MS.\u00a0DNA from blood samples from 80,000 people both with and without MS were examined, 1800 of which came from Australia\u00a0and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
In addition to identifying 48 new susceptibility variants, the study also confirmed and further refined a similar number of\u00a0previously identified genetic associations. With these new findings, there are now 110 genetic variants associated with MS.\u00a0Although each of these variants individually confers only a very small risk of developing multiple sclerosis, collectively they\u00a0explain approximately 20 percent of the genetic component of the disease.<\/p>\n
Associate Professor Booth said the findings represented an important milestone in MS research.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis publication represents another giant step forward in understanding the genetic contribution to the cause of MS, a step\u00a0of equal size to that published in Nature in 2011,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows again the power of global collaboration in pursuit of the cause and cure of the most common chronic neurological\u00a0disease of young adults. More major discoveries will come from the IMSGC,\u201d Associate Professor Booth added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Dr. Jacob McCauley from the University of Miami (who led the study on behalf of the IMSGC), commented further on the\u00a0significance of the work and nature of the collaboration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the release of these new data, our ongoing effort to elucidate the genetic components of this complex disease has\u00a0taken a major step forward. Describing the genetic underpinnings of any complex disease is a complicated but critical step.<\/p>\n
By further refining the genetic landscape of multiple sclerosis and identifying novel genetic associations, we are closer to\u00a0being able to identify the cellular and molecular processes responsible for MS and therefore the specific biological targets\u00a0for future drug treatment strategies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese results are the culmination of a thoroughly collaborative effort. A study of this size and impact is only possible\u00a0because of the willingness of so many hard working researchers and thousands of patients to invest their time and energy in\u00a0a shared goal,\u201d said Dr. McCauley.<\/p>\n
The project was funded by more than 40 national agencies and foundations, including support from the Australian National\u00a0Health and Medical Research Council (Project Grant No.APP633275).<\/p>\n
Underpinning the entire research project was the\u00a0dependency on biobanks, built up over many years from many funding sources around the world.<\/p>\n
Dr. Matthew Miles, MS Research Australia\u2019s CEO said, \u201cMS Research Australia is proud to have provided foundation\u00a0funding and continued support to the ANZgene Consortium.<\/p>\n
This work is a huge contribution to our understanding of MS\u00a0and will underpin intensified efforts to translate these genetic findings into new therapies to reduce the impact of this\u00a0condition for people with MS world-wide.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is currently no cure for MS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An international team of scientists including a strong Australian contingent has made a key discovery in new research to help find the cause and cure of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The team, working under the umbrella of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC), identified 48\u00a0previously unknown genetic variants that influence the risk of developing MS. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2446,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[19],"class_list":["post-2496","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}