Preventing MS: not so far-fetched?
We still don't have a good understanding of why some people develop MS. This might make the idea of being able to prevent MS seem far-fetched.
But in other conditions without a known cause, researchers are already finding preventative treatments.
We've set up the UK MS Prevention Taskforce to learn from these conditions and drive progress towards preventing MS.
Who’s most at risk of MS?
No single gene or environmental exposure is enough to cause MS. Instead we think it’s a mix of different risk factors that work together. These include:
- the genes you inherit from your parents
- environment factors like infection with the glandular fever virus
- some lifestyle factors
Preventing juvenile diabetes
Like MS, type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition caused by a combination of factors. Parth Narendran is a Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Birmingham and is chairing the UK MS Prevention Taskforce.
Professor Narendran said:
"The first drug to prevent type 1 diabetes in children at high risk was approved in 2022.
"Research with siblings of children with diabetes was critical to this success. We described what happens in the years before developing diabetes. And found blood markers that show if a child is at very high risk. Importantly, this offers a window of opportunity in which to take action to delay or prevent the onset of diabetes.
"That early research to understand the biology before people get diabetes helped us to get where we are in our field. A similar process may also help in MS."
Starting up the UK MS Prevention Taskforce
In December 2023 we held a workshop to discuss what research avenues we should explore to make progress towards MS prevention. Researchers and clinicians from MS and other diseases and people affected by MS came together to brainstorm.
Three key themes were identified that are now being considered:
1) What do people at risk of developing MS think and feel about MS and research?
In rheumatoid arthritis, research into the attitudes of people ‘at risk’ has been instrumental in designing prevention studies. This knowledge will help us better communicate the lifestyle changes people can make to reduce their risk of MS. And it will also help to recruit and keep those at risk engaged in future prevention trials.
2) Studying people at risk of MS
This research will help us understand more about MS risk factors and the earliest biological changes that take place before MS has taken hold. The Taskforce will consider how we can do these studies using existing registries such as the UK Biobank. But also how to design our own studies of higher risk people, for example family members of people with MS.
3) Looking over the fence
It was clear in the workshop that there’s so much more we could learn from other conditions about prevention. Not just other autoimmune conditions, like diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, but also from other neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The Taskforce will continue to look across the fence at these areas to bring innovation to MS research.
Beth Grimsey, who lives with relapsing MS, is a member of the UK MS Prevention Taskforce. Beth said:
"I’m optimistic that every breakthrough in prevention research will bring us closer to a future where MS is a chapter of the past. A time where my future children and grandchildren can live without fear of the uncertainties and challenges that come with an MS diagnosis."
"Research into preventing MS isn’t going to change what having MS means for my own life. But it does inspire hope for generations to come.
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