Genetic Factors
MS is not a genetic or inherited disease. However, there is strong evidence that a person’s genetic makeup influences their susceptibility to it. Some racial and population groups have a higher rate of MS than others. Children where one parent has MS have about a 3% chance of developing the disease themselves at some time in their lives. This risk is 20-40 times greater than in the general population, but still very low. Even in identical twins, who have exactly the same genes, there is only around a 25% chance that the twin of an affected person will also develop MS. Clearly genetics is only part of the story, and there is probably no such thing as an ‘MS gene’. It is more likely that several different genes are involved, creating a predisposition that can be triggered by other factors.