MS progression can be predicted with MRI

A new study published in the Journal of Neuroimaging shows that MRI scans used on multiple sclerosis patients to determine if the disease has affected gray matter in the brain can identify those at risk for progression of disability.

"MRI scans obtained from patients with MS are being used to develop measures and techniques that can accurately measure the visible and hidden damage to the brain, especially in gray matter areas and can more accurately predict the course of the disease," says lead researcher Dr. Rohit Bakshi.

As a result of the findings, MRI-based measurement of gray matter damage may be used as a surrogate marker of disease progression. Physicians may therefore be able to more accurately identify patients at risk for developing this progressive disease.

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Study shows neuron gene linked to MS

A newly-discovered genetic flaw may lay the nervous system open to assault from the body's own immune system, leading to multiple sclerosis, according to a new study.

Scientists know that MS has a genetic cause, but the mechanism has remained obscure.

The researchers in this study started with 26 distantly related people living with MS. Researchers scanned the individuals’ genomes to see if they shared any genetic anomalies. The flawed gene they found plays a critical role in the transport of signals along yard-long neurons between the brain and the spinal cord. Their length makes them particularly vulnerable to damage or attack.

"It is probably the way the nerve tissue deals with the attack that makes the difference" in people who develop major disabilities from MS, said Rogier Hintzen of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. If so, the variant could become a target for drug therapies, he said.

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