Posted at: 09/11/2009 7:09 PM
By: Dietrich Nissen

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Multiple Sclerosis Discovery

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- A team of scientists at the Mayo Clinic recently discovered two genes that could lead to a better understanding of multiple sclerosis.

For more than 50 years researchers have been trying to figure out why some people recover and others succumb to the debilitating disease.

Doctor Allan Bieber's discovery brings hope to tens of thousands of people with multiple sclerosis.

"MS is a demyelinating disease,” Bieber says. “It's a disease where the insulation on the electrical system, where the myelin is lost."

Bieber says patients with M.S. may have trouble using their body or controlling their mind. The focus of his study is on the body's ability to repair the myelin, which covers our bodies' nerves.

He says, "Some people seem to have an innate ability to repair damaged myelin while others don't."

Bieber's team used mice with an MS like disease to figure out which genes are key to the repair.

They found the answer in two genes -- TYK2 and EGF.
    
"We were somewhat surprised by how strong the effects of these genes are," Bieber said.

Researchers still need to compare the results with tests on humans suffering from MS, but if their discovery holds, Bieber says doctors could develop individualized treatment.    

"Any gene that's involved in myelin repair is a potential therapeutic target. If you could potentially stimulate that activity of that gene, you might be able to help people repair their myelin," said Beiber.

And while researchers agree this is a major breakthrough in MS research, Bieber says it could take several more years before the more than 300,000 people with MS see therapeutic results.