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A new study shows that, in a group of 441 children with a parent with multiple sclerosis, fathers with MS were more likely to pass on the disease to children than mothers with MS.
Orhun H. Kantarci, MD, Brian G. Weinshenker, MD (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN) and colleagues report their findings in the July 25 issue of Neurology (2006;67:305-310). The study was funded by the National MS Society, the National Institutes of Health and the Mayo Foundation.
Although MS is not directly hereditary, a person who has a first-degree relative (such as a parent or sibling) with MS has a greater risk of developing MS than a person with no MS in the family. Researchers believe that MS occurs in individuals who have genes that make them susceptible to an unknown environmental trigger or triggers. In addition, women are twice as likely as men to develop MS. The reason for this difference is unknown. Dr Kantarci’s group examined the possibility that if men are more resistant to MS, then those men who actually develop the disease must have more susceptibility genes in order to overcome that resistance. Therefore they might be expected to pass on a larger number or stronger susceptibility genes to their children.
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Source: US National MS Society
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