Vitamin D helps control MS genes

[LahoreEstate]

Vitamin D helps control MS genes



Friday, February 06, 2009
LONDON: The first evidence of how vitamin D deficiency and genetics interact to increase the risk of multiple sclerosis has been reported by researchers.

A UK and Canadian team found that vitamin D helps to control a gene known to increase MS risk, the PLoS Genetics journal reports.

It suggests that vitamin D supplements taken during pregnancy and early in life could prevent the disease.

More than 85,000 people in the UK are thought to have MS.

The condition results from the loss of nerve fibres and their protective myelin sheath in the brain and spinal cord, causing neurological damage.

It is not entirely clear what causes MS but other research has suggested vitamin D, produced in the body through exposure to sunlight, plays a part.

Specifically there is evidence that populations from Northern Europe have an increased risk of developing MS if they live in areas receiving less sunshine. Various pieces of research have also pointed to genetic causes.

In the latest study, researchers at the University of Oxford and University of British Columbia looked at a section of the genome on chromosome six which had been shown to have the strongest effect on MS risk.

While one in 1,000 people in the UK is likely to develop MS, this number rises to around one in 300 among those carrying a single copy of the gene variant - known as DRB1*1501 - and one in 100 of those carrying two copies.

The researchers found that proteins activated by vitamin D in the body bind to a particular DNA sequence next to the gene, altering its function.

They believe that vitamin D deficiency in mothers or even in a previous generation may lead to altered expression of the gene in their offspring.

Exactly how the gene-environment interaction alters MS risk is yet to be determined; one explanation could be an effect on the thymus - a part of the immune system which produces T cells to attack invaders such as bacteria and viruses.

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