New technology speeds the search for susceptibility genes

It's all in the genes...

A fundamental step towards finding the cure for MND is finding the cause.
Genetic factors play a role in all types of MND. In 10% of cases, gene defects are entirely responsible for causing the disease. In the other 90% of cases, genetic variations known as "susceptibility genes" may make people more vulnerable to the disease.

DNA speed reading

The identification of susceptibility genes will offer a valuable insight into the causes of MND and could hence highlight potential treatments. Finding these genes is like looking for single spelling mistakes in a few hundred volumes of the telephone directory.
Fortunately, cutting-edge "gene chip" technology is now making the hunt easier by "speed reading" the entire genetic code to look for areas where these spelling mistakes occur, a method known as a "whole genome scan". This narrows the search right down from hundreds of phone books to just a few pages, which can then be more closely examined.

First genome scans produce results

Presenting at the 17th International Symposium on ALS/MND, Dr Travis Dunckley from the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona explained how his team used gene chips to identify 42 particular locations in the genetic code where certain variations were seen more often in people with MND.
Dr Bryan Traynor from the National Institute of Mental Health in America presented similar work. Dr Traynor stressed the importance of performing lots of genome scan studies to confirm results and eliminate any red herrings. Dr Traynor was also keen for genome scan results to be shared amongst researchers to accelerate gene identification.

MND Association joins the gene hunt

The MND Association, in partnership with a number of USA-based charities, will now fund the screening of several thousand DNA samples, including 1,000 from the Association's DNA Bank.
Dr Ammar Al-Chalabi from King's College, London will collaborate with Prof Bob Brown from Harvard Medical School in the USA to carry out a whole genome scan project. The huge number of samples (around 5,000) that will be scanned in this project means that the results will provide a particularly reliable indication of which sections of the genetic code contribute to MND.