Detecting Changes in Multiple Sclerosis


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- Detecting Changes in Multiple Sclerosis

- Genetic test can help improve diagnosis, treatment, study says

MONDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDayNews) -- Genetic information from a simple blood test may help doctors detect changes in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and improve diagnosis and treatment for these patients.

So says a study published Feb. 2 in the online edition of the Annals of Neurology.

American and Israeli scientists say their preliminary results indicate that gene microarrays, which can measure the expression of thousands of genes at once, can help identify different states of MS without the need to use more invasive procedures such as spinal taps.

"Our study was not designed to study response to treatment and predict course; however, it does provide support to the notion that microarray results could be used to predict course of disease and, potentially, therapeutic response," researcher Dr. Naftali Kaminski, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, says in a prepared statement.

She and her colleagues found significant differences in more than 1,000 genes between control subjects and people with MS. The scientists identified a different subset of more than 200 genes whose expression level changes -- becoming more or less active -- in people with flare-ups of MS.

More research is needed to determine whether gene array results can help predict what type of disease course will be experienced by a person newly diagnosed with MS or whether a person with MS in remission is likely to experience a relapse.

More information

Here's where you can learn more about multiple sclerosis.

- --Robert Preidt

- SOURCE: John Wiley & Sons Inc., news release, Feb. 2, 2004

- This is a story from HealthDay, a service of ScoutNews, LLC.

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