The Genetic Basis of Progression in Multiple Sclerosis

This study examined the genetic determinants of multiple sclerosis (MS) severity in an international cohort of people with MS assembled by the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC) and the MultipleMS Consortium. A total of 12,584 people with MS of European ancestry were included in the main genome-wide association study (GWAS). Participants were enriched for older individuals with longer disease duration (mean age 51.7 years and mean disease duration 18.2 years). All individuals were whole-genome genotyped on the Illumina Global Screen Array (GSAMD-24v2-0). Imputation was performed using the Haplotype Reference Consortium reference panel. The primary outcome was the age-related MS severity score. All individuals had at least 1 expanded disability status scale (EDSS) measure. When multiple EDSS scores were available, the last one was selected to calculate the age-related MS severity score.Of those 12,584 people with MS, this data release includes 4,623 participants recruited from non-European sites in the US, Canada and Australia. This release includes individual-level genotype and phenotype files necessary to replicate our GWAS of MS severity, including covariates.]]>
Inclusion: MS diagnosed by appropriately trained neurologist in line with local practice, with at least 1 EDSS measure.Exclusion:"Aggressive MS" - patients that develop marked disability early in disease course as a result of multiple relapses (likely to include patients at the extreme end of relapse activity).Patients left with marked disability as a result of one (or a limited number) of critically placed lesions.Patients where co-morbidity contributes substantially to the observed disability.]]>