{"id":2921,"date":"2019-05-30T15:46:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T05:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/?post_type=wimr_news&p=2921"},"modified":"2024-09-30T18:26:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T08:26:32","slug":"ms-genes-uncovering-the-invisible-mysteries-of-a-debilitating-disease","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/news\/ms-genes-uncovering-the-invisible-mysteries-of-a-debilitating-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"MS genes uncovering the invisible mysteries of a debilitating disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease, in which the immune system periodically attacks the brain and spinal cord. For World MS Day, we spoke to MS researcher Dr Fiona McKay to learn about the role of certain genes and cells in MS.<\/p>\n

MS can cause a range of overt symptoms like paralysis and tremor. However, many of the symptoms of MS, such as chronic pain and fatigue are \u2018hidden\u2019, but can be extremely debilitating. For this reason, MS is sometimes called an \u2018invisible illness\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n

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Dr Fiona McKay<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Dr Fiona McKay, an MS researcher with The Westmead Institute for Medical Research and University of Sydney, says that while the symptoms of MS are not always visible, the damage to the brain and\u00a0 spinal cord accumulates over time, \u00a0and ultimately results in disease progression.<\/p>\n

Currently, there are 12 drugs available in Australia to treat MS. While some of the newer generation therapies have greatly improved outcomes for people with MS, these are still not 100% effective in stopping disease, and not every patient responds to an individual treatment.<\/p>\n

Dr McKay said, \u201cThere is still a pressing need to understand more about the immune dysfunction in this disease, towards the ultimate goal of stopping and reversing MS.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenetics play an important role in predisposition to MS, and in the last decade more than 200 MS risk genes have been identified. \u00a0Finding the genes been an international effort \u2013 it\u2019s such a rich source of information, and we\u2019re just at the start of translating this into new insights into the disease process.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur current research stems from recent discoveries that genes controlling certain immune cells, called natural killer or \u2018NK\u2019 cells, may play a role in MS.”<\/p>\n

In healthy individuals, NK cells kill harmful cells, like cancer cells and autoimmune cells.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn people with MS, we have evidence suggesting that NK cells are dysfunctional,\u201d Dr McKay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are investigating whether this reduces their ability to kill autoimmune cells, thereby allowing the attack on the nervous system to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also working on boosting the \u2018killer\u2019 activity of NK cells in MS, so that they kill autoimmune cells more efficiently. For this work, we are investigating the possibility of repurposing drugs developed for other diseases such as cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNK cell treatment could potentially work alongside other existing treatments to improve the clinical outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Approximately 23,000 Australians currently live with MS1<\/sup>. Dr McKay said the personal cost of the disease is significant and can be devastating. MS is also associated with high economic cost- approximately $1 billion annually1<\/sup>\u00a0in Australia alone.<\/p>\n

This highlights the urgency of stopping and reversing MS.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a better understanding of how the disease is propagated, as well as better therapies to improve the quality of life of people with MS, and we\u2019re excited to be part of this global effort.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reference: Palmer AJ, Colman S, O’Leary B, Taylor BV, Simmons RD.\u00a0The economic impact of multiple sclerosis in Australia in 2010<\/em>. Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England). 2013;19(12):1640-6.<\/p>\n

Dr Fiona McKay is affiliated with The Westmead Institute for Medical Research and The University of Sydney.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease, in which the immune system periodically attacks the brain and spinal cord. For World MS Day, we spoke to MS researcher Dr Fiona McKay to learn about the role of certain genes and cells in MS. MS can cause a range of overt symptoms like paralysis and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2923,"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-2921","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\/2921","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\/2923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}