Localisation of genes for multiple sclerosis in the HLA region

Funded Activity Summary

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease that affects around 10,000 Australians. It is a disease of young adults with women being affected more often than men. While there are therapeutics available to treat it, these are very expensive ($10-12,000 per annum) and are effective in only a proportion of affected individuals. MS is governed by a complex interplay of environmental and genetic susceptibility factors, neither alone sufficient to cause disease, however, the study of these factors has been confounded by the complex nature of the disease. We and other researchers have identified the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex on chromosome 6 as harbouring susceptibility genes for MS. Our recent work has localised these genes in two distinct regions of the HLA complex. In this project we plan to localise these genes more precisely to permit their identification. By identifying these genes we hope to develop an understanding of their function in a healthy person and in a person with MS. Understanding what goes wrong during disease is a critical first step along the track to the design of novel therapeutics. A successful therapeutic agent would be designed to interfere with disease processes and treat the disease more effectively.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2003

End Date: 01-01-2004

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $426,500.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Clinimetrics

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Case control study | Genetic mapping | MHC | MHC associated genetic diseases | Multiple sclerosis | complex genetic disease | multiple sclerosis | neuroinflammatory disease

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