Genetics

This post covers Zivadinov and colleagues' 2007 Human Molecular Genetics study of the BDNF rs6265 Val66Met polymorphism in 209 treated MS patients. It follows the cohort and genotyping checks, the absence of any effect on susceptibility, age of onset or EDSS, the positive association of the Met66 allele with normalized gray matter volume and its negative association with T2 lesion volume, the magnetization transfer analysis separating tissue volume from microscopic damage, the PASAT result in the 108 patients with neuropsychological testing, and the authors' account of why this runs opposite to healthy-subject findings.