A single gene may help doctors diagnose childhood onset of multiple sclerosis, reports a new study published in the journal Neurology.
in adults, an attack of demyelination – where the nerves lose the protective sheath called myelin – almost always leads to an MS diagnosis. In children, however, only about 20 percent of patients presenting with acquired demyelinating syndrome (ADS) go on to develop MS.
Researchers at McGill University in Montreal, seeking to reduce the uncertainty of an MS diagnosis in children, examined blood samples from 266 ADS sufferers under the age of 16, alongside samples taken from 196 healthy children.
The genetic risk factor for MS in adults of northern European origins is linked to the gene HLA-DRB1, and the researchers found that this same gene played a role in pediatric-onset MS.
"What we found is that there is a higher frequency of HLA-DRB1 in children that would later be diagnosed with MS, but not in children presenting with a single episode of ADS. This indicates that this gene is a risk factor in pediatric-onset MS," explained Dr. Amit Bar-Or, the study’s lead author.