Genetics Consortium Finds Gene that May Protect Against MS

Genetics Consortium Finds Gene that May Protect Against MS

May 11, 2007
The International MS Genetics Consortium (IMSGC) has newly identified
a gene that may help protect people from developing multiple
sclerosis. The group recently published its findings in the Annals of
Neurology (2007;61(3):

228 236). The IMSGC is a collaborating group of
investigators with expertise in genetics, database
design/construction, and clinical assessment and immunology of MS. The
National MS Society funded the formation of the IMSGC through a
Collaborative MS Research Center Award to Dr. David A. Hafler (Harvard
Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital).
HLA genes (genes that control how the immune system identifies foreign
substances as well as the body's own tissues) have been associated
with MS, most strongly, the HLA-DRB1*1501 gene. The IMSGC screened the
genetic material in the HLA region in 930 "trio families," which
comprise people with MS and their parents (480 from the United Kingdom
and 450 from the United States). They excluded families in which
either parent carried the HLA-DRB1*1501 gene, to eliminate it as a
confounding factor. The results show a significant association between
the HLA-C*05 gene and protection from MS. The IMSGC confirmed this
association in a group of 721 patients with sporadic MS and 3,660
controls without MS.
The authors note that replication of these findings will be necessary
in independent cohorts. If confirmed, these findings may shed new
light on the immune attack on the brain and spinal cord in MS. The
HLA-C gene family instructs molecules that interact with natural
killer cells -- a group of immune cells that home in on and kill viral
and cancer cells that have invaded the body. Some research suggests
that these cells may play a protective role in MS.
This IMSGC includes Dr. Hafler, Dr. Stephen Hauser (UCSF), Dr. Eric
Lander (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard), Drs. Alistair Compston
and Stephen Sawcer (University of Cambridge), Drs. Jonathan Haines
(Vanderbilt University) and Margaret Pericak-Vance (Duke University),
Dr. Jorge Oksenberg (UCSF), and others. This multinational effort
allows the researchers to compile information on numerous patients,
enhancing the statistical power of their findings.
The IMSGC is currently mapping the genome (all of the genetic material
within humans) of MS using a DNA chip that enables investigators to
test 500,000 individual genetic locations at one time for possible
involvement in MS. The Society committed $1.1 million to jump-start
this effort, and joined with Harvard to raise a total of $3.63 million
to complete the project. The results are expected to be presented at a
scientific meeting this year.
-- Research & Clinical Programs
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HOM_RES_research_2007may11