Multiple sclerosis, vitamin D, and HLA-DRB1*15.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Multiple sclerosis (MS) has a remarkable geographic distribution inversely paralleling that of regional ultraviolet radiation, supporting the hypothesis that vitamin D plays a central role in the disease etiology. The major histocompatibility complex exerts the largest genetic contribution to MS susceptibility, but much risk remains unexplained and direct gene-environment interaction is a strong candidate for this additional risk. Such interactions may hold the key for disease prevention.

Recent developments

Several recent studies strengthen the candidacy of vitamin D as a key player in the causal cascade to MS. This includes a newly identified gene-environment interaction between vitamin D and the main MS-linked HLA-DRB1*1501 allele and evidence showing that vita

SUBMITTER: Handunnetthi L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2882222 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature