The refinement of genetic predictors of multiple sclerosis.

A recent genome wide association study (GWAS) demonstrated that more than 100 genetic variants influence the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). We investigated what proportion of the general population can be considered at high genetic risk of MS, whether genetic information can be used to predict disease development and how the recently found genetic associations have influenced these estimates. We used summary statistics from GWAS in MS to estimate the distribution of risk within a large simulated general population.

Regulatory genomic regions active in immune cell types explain a large proportion of the genetic risk of multiple sclerosis.

There is little understanding of how genetic variants discovered in recent genome-wide association studies are involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). We aimed to investigate which chromatin states and cell types explain genetic risk in MS. We used genotype data from 1854 MS patients and 5164 controls produced by the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium and Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium.