My partners mum and sister have secondary progressive MS and we now have a little girl, and with MS affecting women more than men and new research suggesting genetics play a big part in developing MS, I’m worried about my little girl potentially developing MS. I know there’s no genetic testing available for MS but does anyone know how I could potentially go about seeing if my daughter is high risk or not for MS? Thanks in advance
If you want info, you can type ‘genes and ms’ into the search box on the MS Soc home page and it will take you to the relevant page. As far as I understand it, there isn’t any way of identifying risk at an individual level. I think the headline is that it’s still a rare disease, even if it is in the family.
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Unless your partner has MS, it is regarded as irrelevant that your child’s aunt & grandparent have MS. That’s what I was told when I was diagnosed yet my Dad’s sister had MS.
The cause of MS is still a mystery - it’s no one thing which causes it to activate in an individual. Yes, there’s a genetic component but it is only relevant if it has activated in direct ancestors. There are % probabilities based on who else in your family has it. 1 in 450 in UK population has MS. If a parent has it, your odds go down to 1 in 80 if you are male or 1 in 40 for female. If a sibling has it your odds go down to 1 in 20 and for an identical twin, it’s 1 in 5.
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Thank you for your reply. You were told it was irrelevant yet you’ve now been diagnosed and your aunty has it and you had less chance considering you’re a male. I know there needs to be more research and there are a few factors affecting the risk of developing MS but your answer has confirmed my worry. I hope you’re keeping well
Hi Keah, yes, unfortunately there is no marker gene for MS . The likelihood of developing it seems to depend on some as yet unidentified combination of genes plus environmental factors. My Dad’s sister had MS but so far as I know I’m the only one in his family line to have also developed it.
After my diagnosis I advised my sisters to take Vitamin D supplements and I see that there seems to be some general advice that if you are worried about developing MS : stop smoking, exercise, eat well i.e a healthy diet, and try to reduce stress using meditation/ mindfulness , Vitamin D supplements ( basically similar advice to those who have MS)
Let me spell it out again:
Unless your partner has MS, it is irrelevant that other members of his family have it. It can’t skip a generation.
Based on what “we” are being told currently, your daughter is at no greater risk of getting MS than anyone else in the general population. Relax!
My understanding is a little different to @GCCK but have a look at the MS Trust website which has a good section on MS in families and relations.
This might be of some help although as the saying goes: it’s complicated
More generally one possible trigger is infection with the Epstein Barr virus. At present there is no vaccine for the virus but I think there is one going through clinical trials
Hello @keah
I once attended a multiple sclerosis seminar and one speaker discussed the possibility of MS stemming from a breach of the blood-brain barrier.
I remember as a tot:baby:, I used to have heavy nose bleeds, so whether it’s an infection, virus, genetics or environmental factors that triggers MS, maybe that was the breach of the blood-brain barrier for me?
Kind regards,
JP