Now
Writing the story behind
every face of MS
Iwas recently struck by the words of Tamara Carpenter, a
young African-American woman
with MS. “Right now, there is
no face of what MS looks like
for us,” said Carpenter, who has
joined the National MS Society’s
African-American Advisory
Council, which was created to
advise and support the Society
on the best approaches to reach
and engage the African-American
community.
Careful study is helping to fill
this void for African-Americans
with MS, with Society support.
by Timothy Coetzee, PhD
The clinical and genetic story
A pivotal 2004 study compared
the clinical characteristics of MS
among hundreds of African- and
Caucasian Americans. Bruce
Cree, MD, PhD (University of
California, San Francisco)—
then a Sylvia Lawry Physician
Fellow of the Society—and
colleagues found that African-Americans tended to have
a more aggressive course of
disease, were at higher risk
for mobility impairments, to
develop MS later in life, and
to have symptoms restricted to
the optic nerve and spinal cord.
Neurology 2004;63:2039–45
The UCSF group has also
broken new ground in their study
of the genetic underpinnings
of MS in African-Americans.
Building on recent studies that
have identified MS genes, Jorge
Oksenberg, PhD, and his team
were funded by the Society to
study 12 candidate genes in 918
African-Americans with MS
and 656 controls without MS.
Five genes showed significant
associations to MS in African-Americans; a sixth gene was
particularly associated with age
of MS onset; and a seventh
appeared to be associated with
disease progression. Genes and
Immunity 2010;11:343–50
To participate in gene studies,
visit their website: neurology
. ucsf.edu/msdb.
Research on cognition, care
Investigators at one of the
Pediatric Network Centers of
Excellence funded through
the Society’s Promise:2010
campaign examined cognitive
differences between African-
American and Caucasian
patients who developed MS
before age 18. In a battery
of neuropsychological tests,
African-American kids
with MS scored lower on
measures of language and
complex attention, suggesting
the disease impacts these
children differently than other
populations. Such studies
help parents and educators
to optimize school life for
children with MS. Neurology
2010;75:2097–102
Timothy
Coetzee,
PhD, is Chief
Research
Officer of the
National MS
Society.
