Definition Multiple Sclerosis

When the immune system attacks the central nervous system it is an autoimmune situation referred to as multiple sclerosis. This leads to demyelization. This disease is generally found among young adults and most common in females. The range of the prevalence is between 2 and 150 per 100,000. Multiple sclerosis was first explained by Jean Martin Charcot in 1868. Multiple sclerosis affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord which are supposed to coordinate with each other. These nerve cells would communicate by sending across electrical signals called action potentials down the long fibers called axons. These are wrapped in an insulating substance known as myelin.

In multiple sclerosis the body's own immune system would attack and affect the myelin. When the body loses the myelin then the axons cannot communicate that effectively. Multiple sclerosis is mostly referred to as scars that are there in the white matter of the brain as well as the spinal cord which consists of the maximum myelin. Though in today's world the mechanism involved in the disease process may be known but the cause is yet a mystery. There have been various environmental risk factors which have been found.

Most neurological symptoms have the tendency to appear with the disease which would further progress to a physical as well as a cognitive disability. Multiple sclerosis takes several forms having new symptoms which would occur in either discrete attacks or may accumulate slowly overtime. Between attacks, the chances are there that the symptoms may go away completely but permanent neurological problems do occur often especially as the disease advances.

Till date there has been no known cure for multiple sclerosis. Treatment given to patients suffering from multiple sclerosis also know that the treatment will act as an attempt to return the functions, prevent new attacks and also prevent the possibility of a disability. Most patients go for alternative treatment as the medication has side effects and is poorly tolerated by the patients themselves. It is difficult to predict the diagnosis as it depends on the subtype of the disease, the characteristics of the individual patient's disease, the symptoms from start and also the degree of the disability the person has to face as time goes by. Life expectancy is though the same as that of the normal population that is unaffected by it.

Besides familial studies specific genes are known to have links with multiple sclerosis. The differences in the human leukocyte antigen increase the probability of suffering multiple sclerosis. Human leukocyte antigen is basically a group of genes in chromosomes that would serve as the major histocompatibility complex in humans. There have been two more genes that are known to be linked to multiple sclerosis. And they are IL2RA and IL&RA. These are subunits f the receptor for interleukin 2 and interleukin 7. The human leukocyte antigen complex is involved with antigen presentation which is then crucial to the functioning of the immune system. The IL@ and IL7 receptor genes were known to be associated with diabetes and also other autoimmune conditions which would support the notion that multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease.

• Matt Thompson
• 23/04/2009, 12:59 PM
• 0 Comments