FED: Research to centre on MS cause

AAP General News (Australia)
08-26-2009
FED: Research to centre on MS cause

ADELAIDE, Aug 26 AAP - Australian researchers will try to discover the proteins that
cause multiple sclerosis (MS) in a national project launched on Wednesday.

The project will get $1 million in funding over four years, the money provided by the
Australian Research Council and MS Research Australia.

Lead investigator Shaun McColl, from the University of Adelaide, said the work would
focus on various stages of the disease where certain genes were activated.

"Those genes express proteins and we believe these could have the effect of switching
the disease on and off," Professor McColl said.

"If we can discover the key proteins and their roles in the development of MS, we could
go a long way towards finding potential treatments or cures for the condition."

More than 2.5 million people worldwide and 20,000 in Australia suffer with MS, the
disease costing the Australian community an estimated $2 billion each year.

It is an auto-immune disease in which the body's own immune cells attack the central
nervous system impacting on the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to
communicate with each other.

AAP tjd/maur

KEYWORD: MS

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