A U.S.-led international team of scientists has used a large-scale genomic study to identify new genetic variations associated with multiple sclerosis.Toronto - A U.S.-led international team of scientists has used a large-scale genomic study to identify new genetic variations associated with multiple sclerosis.

The study — the first comprehensive investigation of the genetic basis of MS — suggests a possible link between MS and other autoimmune diseases.

“Scientists are increasingly finding genetic links between autoimmune diseases that affect different tissues in the body, including type one diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis,” Harvard Medical School Professor David Hafler said.

Researchers said the new findings are among a series of recent whole-genome association studies that have begun to uncover the genetic basis of complex diseases such as diabetes, schizophrenia and coronary artery disease. Unlike diseases caused by a mutation in a single gene, those conditions seem to arise from a combination of genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors. Scientists believe a host of genetic variations may contribute to a person’s susceptibility.

The study involving scientists at the University of California-San Francisco, the University of Cambridge, Vanderbilt University and the University of Miami is reported in the current online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.