MS patients' relatives show subtle brain changes

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MS patients' relatives show subtle brain changes

By Mulvihill

NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters Health) - Polish scientists report that they

have detected very subtle brain changes in healthy relatives of patients

with multiple sclerosis (MS), which the researchers say may predispose

these individuals to developing MS themselves.

" In brains of relatives of MS patients, there are subtle molecular

changes similar to those occurring in the brains of patients, which we

were unaware of before, " lead investigator Dr. Krzysztof Selmaj, of the

Medical Academy of Lodz, told Reuters Health in an interview.

" We have known previously that relatives of MS patients have a

moderately increased risk to get MS but the reason for that was

unknown, " he added. " Our results suggest that in brains of relatives

there are changes which make them more susceptible to get MS. "

No one knows what causes MS, which occurs when the body's immune system

mistakenly attacks the protective myelin sheath surrounding nerve fibers

in the brain and spine. Symptoms of MS include muscle weakness and

stiffness, balance and coordination problems, numbness and vision

disturbances.

Using a technique called magnetization transfer imaging (MTI), the

researchers scanned the brains of 30 people who had a sibling, child or

parent with MS. These scans were compared with brain scans of MS

patients and healthy volunteers.

MTI is a new technique that measures the integrity of molecules in the

brain, according to Selmaj. Using magnetics, it can pick up very subtle

changes in the structure of the myelin sheath that cannot be seen with

other brain scans, he explained.

Although half of the people in the study had relatives with familial MS

and the other 15 had relatives with sporadic MS--meaning that there was

no family history of the disease--the brains of people in both groups

had the subtle brain changes, Selmaj and colleagues report in the

February issue of the journal Neurology.

" MS is a very serious disease and it seems that the genetic component of

it is more important than we thought earlier, " he told Reuters Health.

Since relatives of MS patients have a higher risk of developing the

disease, Selmaj's team hopes that the new findings will provide further

information about what causes MS.

Scientists are not clear what triggers the abnormal immune system attack

involved in MS. One possibility is that genetics interact with

environmental factors such as viruses or toxins to trigger the aberrant

immune response.

For the time being, Selmaj does not recommend that relatives of MS

patients undergo brain scans to see if they have brain changes.

" Before that, we should find a firm answer to the question of how often

these subtle changes will transfer to fully developed MS, " he said.

SOURCE: Neurology 2002;58:317-320.