- Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that affects almost 40,000 Australians and three million people worldwide.
- Two researchers from The Florey have been awarded combined funding of almost $65,000 from MS Australia to fast track their MS research.
- The grants will support research on the role genetic mutations in the brain play in driving MS progression and the impact of a common virus on the onset and progression of MS.
The Florey has once again been successful in securing MS Australia funding to help advance important research into the chronic autoimmune disease.
Each year MS Australia awards researchers across Australia funding to accelerate research into the causes and prevention of MS, help identify new treatments and find a cure. This year’s national allocation totals $2.8m.
Associate Professor Justin Rubio, Head of the Neurogenetics Group at the Florey, has been awarded a MS Australia Incubator Grant of $24,556 to continue his work on uncovering how genetic mutations in brain cells influence inflammation and drive MS progression.
Additionally, PhD student Alex Eisner has received a $40,000 MS Australia Postgraduate Scholarship to undertake research into the link between herpesviruses and MS onset and progression.
Is inflammation the cause or effect of increased mutation in MS?
A current MS Australia Senior Research Fellow (2024–2028), Professor Rubio recently led research that for the first time identified that inflammation – long associated with MS – appears to cause increased mutations in nerve cells that could be driving MS progression.
While the research suggests inflammation in the brain of people with MS causes mutations in neurons, which may contribute to progression, an important unanswered question remained.
“What we don’t know is whether the inflammation is the cause of the increased mutation rate in nerve cells, or whether the nerve cells have an inherently higher mutation rate that then triggers inflammation and the damage associated with it,” Professor Rubio said.
“Our project will look at mutation rates in DNA from cells in lesion biopsy samples from people at an early stage of MS and compare these to the mutation rate of cells from post-mortem MS lesions from samples donated from people who had late-stage or progressive MS.
“We expect this will reveal differences in mutation patterns and help determine if the accelerated mutation rate is already present in cells from early-MS lesions.
“We hope to improve understanding of the relationship between inflammation in the brain, changes in DNA that builds up in individual brain cells and MS progression.”
Understanding the link between autoantibodies, epigenetics, herpesviruses and MS
A post-graduate student in The Florey’s Neuroepidemiology Group, Alex Eisner will use his MS Australia scholarship to study how the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and other herpesviruses impact MS onset and progression.
EBV, which affects up to 90% of people worldwide and causes glandular fever, has been strongly linked to the development of MS and is thought to play a role in how the disease progresses over time.
“However, even though these connections are known, the biological mechanisms behind this link are not yet fully understood,” Mr Eisner said.
“Two pathways of interest are associated autoantibody response, including GlialCAM, and epigenetic programming.
“Understanding how these factors and their associated mechanisms influence the risk of MS developing and progressing could lead to tailored MS treatments to help slow progression in individuals.”
Mr Eisner’s project is in collaboration with three large Australian studies: the Ausimmune Study, Ausimmune Longitudinal Study and PrevANZ trial.
