Interracial Origins of MS

Background:

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complex neurologicdisease with a striking geographical distribution. In Canada,prevalence is high in Caucasians of Northern European ancestryand uncommon in North American Aboriginals, many of whom nowhave Caucasian admixture.

Methods:

The population-based CanadianCollaborative Project on the Genetic Susceptibility to MS providedthe characteristics of 58 individuals with 1 Caucasian and 1North American Aboriginal parent from a database of 30,000 MSindex cases.

Results:

We found that MS index cases with a Caucasianmother and a North American Aboriginal father had a higher sibrecurrence risk and greater F:M sex ratio (p = 0.043) than patientswith a North American Aboriginal mother and Caucasian father.

Conclusions:

Maternal parent-of-origin effects in multiple sclerosis diseaseetiology previously seen in studies of half-siblings and avuncularpairs are also seen in Caucasian-North American Aboriginal admixturematings and warrant further investigation. A differential influenceof maternal risk transmission on the sex ratio of affected offspringis implied. The method of analysis used may have broader implicationsfor detection of parent-of-origin effects in admixture cohorts.