Vitamin D receptor
"The evidence is overwhelming that vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of developing MS. The question is how? Vitamin D can act in the genome by binding to its own receptor called the vitamin D receptor or VDR. We have previously mapped out where in the genome the VDR binds. Here we are trying to understand the function of VDR binding. The majority of vitamin D binding sites are at gene regulatory sites; the probability of this happening by chance is extremely low- i.e. vitamin D is playing an active role in regulating genes. Secondly of the 60 or so genes associated to MS, we show hear that nearly 80% of them are regulated by vitamin D, again the probability of this being a chance finding is smaller than the chances of one of us winning the lottery. It seems clear that vitamin D influences the risk of getting MS through gene-environment interactions. So now the question is- for people at high risk of getting the disease (for example carrying all the risk genes) can we give them high dose vitamin D to prevent them from ever getting MS? I hope so."
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