Genetics of multiple sclerosis [published erratum appears in Hum Mol Genet 1997 Nov;6(12):2189]

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a common chronic central nervous system diseasein young adults. Relative familial risk appears to be determined largely bygenes while population risk is strongly influenced by environmentalfactors. This is supported by genetic epidemiological studies which alsosuggest an oligogenic inheritance of susceptibility. The HLA DRB1*1501,DQA1*0102, DQB1 0602 haplotype is associated with the disease but HLAcontributes only modestly to overall susceptibility. The results of threegenomic searches are concordant with the genetic epidemiology and imply anumber of genes with interacting effects will be found. Importantly, nosingle region has been identified with a major influence on familial risk.