Women suffering MS- multiple sclerosis are more prone to carry a gene associated with the infirmity in comparison to males’ sufferers. In a study that examined the DNA samples of more than seven thousand people, revealed that women were more prone to communicate the gene in female relations.
According to experts the results of current study would help to explain the reasons, MS presently affects more than double in females in comparison to males. The earlier studies have shown that there are higher occurrences of several genes among patients. The exact reasons of what causes MS are not known.
It is believed that exposure to infections, environmental aspects, virus and genes all play a significant role. The study analyzed the HLA of more than one thousand families with more than one member suffering MS in the family. The same number of males and females had MS in 1950s but since then the proportion of women in comparison to men has raised to two ratio one.
The family of gene gives directions for making a group of proteins which help the immune system to differentiate the own protein of the body from those made by alien bodies like bacteria and viruses. In MS this differentiation does not happen and the immune system attacks the central nervous system.
The rise in cases of MS among women had occurred in too short period of times that it recommends that it was simply caused by hereditary factors, explained the team led by Prof George Beers from Oxford University. The environmental changes would be the probable factor, perhaps resultant from gene environmental interactions, reported the journal Neurology.
The study will proffer the possibility for preventing MS in individual who are at risk and also potential to develop targeted treatment in fact, explained Dr Jayne Spink from the MS Society.