Narrator:
Genetic researchers, spurred by data from the Human Genome Project have isolated genes linked to Multiple Sclerosis.
Simon Gregory, PhD:
It's probably the most significant discovery in the genetics of MS for the last 20 or 30 years.
Narrator:
Simon Gregory heads a research team at Duke University that helped analyze DNA from more than 20-thousand people. Gregory's team, working collaboratively
with other geneticists in the United States and Europe have determined that certain versions of two genes show up more often in MS patients than in the general population.
Simon Gregory, PhD:
We're starting to get clues as to what genes are involved and the genetic background--the genetic susceptibility,
but we still don't know what environmental influences will trigger the disease.
Narrator:
Multiple Sclerosis is a disorder where for some unknown reason the body's immune system attacks the insulation surrounding nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
When this protein known as "myelin" is compromised physical and mental impairments can result.
Some research implicates viruses like Epstein Barr, which causes infectious mononucleosis as a possible catalyst for the disease:
Ben Thrower, MD:
Now the immune system says you know that virus kind of looks like part of that myelin that I see in the brain and spinal cord and over years maybe there's a breakdown in the,
the ability to distinguish self, the person themselves, verses non-self, the virus.
Narrator:
Other studies point to a deficiency in vitamin D, that people can get from exposure to sunlight,
leading some scientists to speculate whether geographical location may play a role in the formation of MS:
Ben Thrower, MD:
MS has always been more common as you go away from the equator.
Narrator:
Further studies are needed to determine if vitamin D supplements can actually help prevent or slowdown MS. Meanwhile, experts have made significant progress with new therapies.
In 1993, a new class of drugs called immune modulators came on line, and they've been shown to have impressive results in slowing progression of the disease.
Ben Thrower, MD:
Currently, our therapies are all injectable medications and I think people would obviously like to have something that's not a shot,
that's a pill or a patch or a nasal spray and, and I think that those things are coming.
Narrator:
Researchers are also exploring the role hormones play in keeping MS symptoms at bay—especially those that become elevated during pregnancy:
Ben Thrower, MD:
Researchers have been focusing on the protective effects of estriol and in one of their early pilot trials showed that in young women with very active ms,
the estriol seemed to quiet that down rather dramatically.
Narrator:
The holy grail of treatments would be therapies that could restore damaged nerve fibers.
In 2007 Mayo Clinic researchers discovered that a single dose of a manufactured antibody helped repair the myelin of lab mice within a relatively short period of time.
And there is additional promise offered by stem-cell research inspiring hope that decades of lab-work may soon yield big payoffs in clinical trials. For WebMD, I'm Damon Meharg.
