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Current Genomics

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1389-2029
ISSN (Online): 1875-5488

Progress in Multiple Sclerosis Genetics

Author(s): An Goris, Ine Pauwels and Benedicte Dubois

Volume 13, Issue 8, 2012

Page: [646 - 663] Pages: 18

DOI: 10.2174/138920212803759695

Price: $65

Abstract

A genetic component in the susceptibility to multiple sclerosis (MS) has long been known, and the first and major genetic risk factor, the HLA region, was identified in the 1970’s. However, only with the advent of genome-wide association studies in the past five years did the list of risk factors for MS grow from 1 to over 50. In this review, we summarize the search for MS risk genes and the latest results. Comparison with data from other autoimmune and neurological diseases and from animal models indicates parallels and differences between diseases. We discuss how these translate into an improved understanding of disease mechanisms, and address current challenges such as genotype-phenotype correlations, functional mechanisms of risk variants and the missing heritability.

Keywords: Multiple sclerosis, Genetics, Genome-wide association, Risk, Linkage, Single nucleotide polymorphism, HLA, demyelination, axonal loss, cosegregation, microsatellite maps.


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