Research Genes and MS Susceptibility

I was asked at MS Life 2012 about genes and susceptibility to multiple sclerosis and to what extent these genes may predispose to altered blood vessel formation. I did not remember them off the top of my head.


Here is a list (Click) of genes that were hunted for without attempts to bias what was found . If you click on the gene on the left and then click on the candidate/nearest gene, you can find its function), so you can ask about vessel formation (angiogenesis). You can do the homework if you are really interested and do a critical reappraisal of angiogenic potential of these genes? 

As the brain has a blood brain barrier one could compare this with testicle that has a blood testicle barrier, or nerve as some of these genes code proteins that have general cellular function.


The number one area of the chromosomes, which contain the genetic information, that is linked to susceptibility in MS is called the human leucocyte (white blood cell) antigen This cluster of genes determines how white blood cells recognise targets to attack.


(If you look for papers with word HLA and immune/blood cells there are 16,028/36,229 papers. Now do the same thing for valve/blood vessel (it is 195/1208) or testis/testicle 296/288 papers).  There are reports of HLA antigens on blood vessels as they could use this to talk immune cells, but if you use a high powered microscope you find that it is not the blood vessel that express the class II HLA variants but the microglial/pericyte nearby. The HLA region is statistically over a million, million, million, million, million and more times more significant that the susceptibility risk factor to any of the other of the 50 of more susceptibility genes so far found

The next genes found were IL-2R and IL-7R. Interleukin (between white blood cells) seven receptor (a marker found on white blood cells) (search shows 75 papers of IL-7R and cell, 27/29 papers of IL7R and blood cell/immune; 1/0 papers on IL7R on blood vessel/ valve (positive paper was about SOX18 on vessels and not IL7R) and 0/0 IL-7R and Testicle/Testis and thirds gene was the interleukin two receptor  IL-2R. For IL-2R and immune/blood cells there are 6,271/17,468 papers. For for valve/blood vessel (it is 13/230) or testis/testicle 15/15 papers). 


You can do this for all of the other genes and most of them have a function associated with the immune system, some very much so. Some have general activity in cells including blood vessels and other organs such as the testicle. Do some of these genes code for more immune, brain, blood vessel or testicle related effects? Some will indeed be found only in (brain) blood vessels such as vascular (blood) cell adhesion molecule, but this is a molecule used by white blood (immune)cells to get into the brain and elsewhere.  

However, you will see that many of them are immune-related and this therefore needs to built into your idea of what occurs in MS.

There is also MSgene were you can look at the identity and function of genes

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