If you carry a specific genetic mutation, you are at an increased risk of developing Devic’s Disease. This is the conclusion of a DNA analysis, performed in June of 2018, by an American research team at UT Southwestern Medical Centre in Dallas, Texas.
The increased risk is caused by the gene producing a specific protein, which binds antigens and damages antigen receptors. Normally, this would mean that the protein kills harmful bacteria, but if you have Devic’s Disease, the antigen is collected in the nervous system. Devic’s Disease results in damages to the optic nerve and the spinal cord, causing loss of sight and a weakening of arms and legs.
‘In depth research pays off’
According to the scientists, the added knowledge of the disease could open the door for more effective treatment options – because the better we know a disease, the better we can predict which treatment options would be effective and which wouldn’t. DNA analysis is one of the most in-depth studies made on Devic’s Disease, performed so far. A significant difference from previous studies is that the scientists have examined every strand of DNA rather than just every other or every third stand - which would be normal procedure. And their thoroughness payed off.
“This outcome shows that doing in-depth research pays off, and more studies like this may be needed to find the problem behind other rare conditions,” says Benjamin Greenberg, one of the scientists behind the study.
New treatment options could be coming from Japan
There is no cure for Devic’s Disease, but there are treatments which can lessen symptoms and reduce the effect of the disease. These include medicine that supresses the immune system and medicine that reduce inflammation.
Currently, other forms of treatment are being studied, and as resent as January 2018, Japanese scientists discovered an antigen, which appears to treat the symptoms of Devic’s Disease. So far, the antigen has only been tested on rats, but the scientists at Osaka University hope that the antigen, eventually, could be given to people as part of their treatment.
In short: Neuromyelitis Optica (Devic’s Disease)
Neuromyelitis Optica – also called NMO or Devic’s Disease – is an autoimmune disease, similar to sclerosis.
- NMO is rare, afflicting far fewer than sclerosis
- Everyone could develop the disease, regardless of age and gender – however, women are more likely to develop the disease than men
- The symptoms include aches in arms and legs, weakening of arms and legs, and loss of sight
- NMO can, in the most severe cases, be lethal
- NMO is an autoimmune disease – meaning the body’s own defences mistakenly attack healthy cells, believing them to be harmful
