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Professor George C. Ebers Canadian Collaborative Project on Genetic Susceptibility to Multiple Sclerosis (CCPGSMS) Funding provided by the MS Society of Canada Scientific Research Foundation. Principal Investigators George C. Ebers, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics A. Dessa Sadovnick, University of British Columbia
Consulting Neurologists Donald W. Paty, Stanley Hashimoto, Virginia Devonshire, John Hooge, Lorne Kastrukoff , Joel Oger , Luanne Metz, Sharon Warren, Walter Hader, Cristopher Power, Anthony Auty, Avindra Nath, Robert Nelson, Mark Freedman, Donald Brunet, John E. Paulseth, George Rice, Paul O’Connor, Pierre Duquette, Yves Lapierre, Gordon Francis, Jean-Pierre Bouchard, T. John Murray, Virender Bhan, Charles Maxner, William Pryse-Phillips, Mark Stefanelli The CCPGSMS The CCPGSMS study was initiated in 1993 in collaboration with neurologists representing 19 different MS clinics across Canada. The study has ascertained over 30,000 MS patients since its inception and DNA has been collected from over 2500 families with at least two family members with multiple sclerosis. The study group have collected the largest database in the world of epidemiological and environmental data which has been able to answer many questions about multiple sclerosis. Previous studies of twins have shown that MS susceptibility is partly genetic and partly environmental, meaning it is a complex trait. Investigations in adopted family members, half-siblings and conjugal pairs have shown that familial clustering of MS is entirely all genetic and thus the environment must act at a broad population level. Large scale genome-wide linkage scans have been performed. The only consistent linkage identified was with the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC). This region therefore exerts the single stongest genetic effect in MS. However, the role of this locus in the intitation and progression of disease is poorly understood and thus currently being studied in detail by the Ebers group. The investigation of non-genetic factors involved in susceptibility has also been undertaken with detailed family history information, and questionnaires regarding environment and early life history, and epigenetic studies.
Last updated 13th June 2006, km |
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