September 11, 2008

Researchers in Syracuse have found variants in mitochondrial DNA that appear to be associated with MS. Mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, is a circular strand of DNA that is located in mitochondria ("the powerhouses of the cell," as we learned in school) and encodes proteins used in mitochondrial function. In this study, variants in two mitochondrial genes, and a set of variants called haplotype K*, were found more frequently in MS subjects than controls. Some of these results had also been reported in previous studies, but not consistently -- probably because mtDNA variants are distributed differently in different populations. How these variants might relate to MS disease processes is not yet determined, but the authors postulate that increased free radical production and oxidative damage may be involved.

Note: this is the second set of published results that has been based on use of samples from the Accelerated Cure Project MS repository. Several other scientists are currently using our samples or waiting to receive them, so we look forward to sharing more results as they come in!