00:00 Multiple Sclerosis or MS is a debilitating disease marked by the body's immune system
00:08 attacking the protective layering around the nerves.
00:11 This causes a disruption between the brain and the rest of the body, resulting in pain,
00:16 loss of vision and impaired motor function.
00:18 Researchers have long known that a gene variant that increases the risk of MS was three times
00:22 higher amongst northern Europeans, but no one knew why or how it was passed along.
00:27 However, using recent DNA sequences from ancient genomes from tens of thousands of years of
00:31 human history, they might finally have an idea.
00:35 Researchers discovered that the gene first entered Europe from a region including Ukraine,
00:39 southwest Russia and west Kazakhstan.
00:41 They discovered that the MS gene was positively selected wherever it went, which means it
00:45 likely had some form of utility despite the disease's eventual debilitation.
00:50 The best guess is that because MS is the result of an overactive immune system, it likely
00:54 protected humans with the gene by preventing other illnesses that would have killed them
00:58 at a much younger age.
00:59 With one of the researchers, neuroimmunologist Lars Fugger saying about it, "This means we
01:04 can now understand and seek to treat MS for what it actually is, the result of a genetic
01:09 adaptation to certain environmental conditions that occurred back in our prehistory."
01:15 - Lars Fugger, MS Geology and Biotechnology Research Center, University of California,
01:18 California Institute of Technology.
01:19 - Lars Fugger, MS Geology and Biotechnology Research Center, University of California,
Comments