MS discovery could explain gender gap

A study has found that a key difference between male and female brains of multiple sclerosis (MS) could explain why women are more likely to develop the condition, reports the BBC.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in the US found higher levels of a protein - S1PR2 - in the brains of female mice and dead women with MS than their male counterparts.

MS causes irregular immune cells to attack cells in the central nervous system, which causes problems with muscle movement, balance and vision. Although it affects around 100,000 people in the UK, there are four times more female sufferers than male.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, has been described as a "really interesting" discovery. 

It looked at relapsing remitting MS, where people have distinct attacks of symptoms that then fade away either partially or completely. It is the most common type of MS, with 85 per cent of sufferers being diagnosed with this type.

They observed the blood vessels and brains of healthy mice, mice with MS and mice without the gene for S1PR2, a blood vessel receptor protein, to see how it affected the severity of the condition. The team of researchers also looked at brain tissue samples from 20 people after they had died. 

It found that, in the areas damaged by MS, there were high levels of S1PR2 in both mice and the human brain tissue samples. The activity of the gene coding for the protein was positively correlated with the severity of the disease in mice, according to the study.

Scientists said the S1PR2 protein could help the development of MS by making the blood-brain barrier more permeable. This could let attacking cells, which causes the condition, into the central nervous system where they cause damage.

Professor Robyn Klein, of the Washington University School of Medicine, told the BBC: "We were very excited to find the molecule, as we wanted to find a target for treatment that didn't involve targeting the immune cells.

"This link [between MS and S1PR2] is completely new - it has never been found before."

She said that it was unclear why the levels of S1PR2 were higher in women with MS, as oestrogen played no "acute role".