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Abstract

The overall objective of the Canadian Collaborative Project on the Genetic Susceptibility to Multiple Sclerosis (CCPGSMS) is to elucidate the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The aims of this thesis, as part of the CCPGSMS, were to 1) confirm the involvement of genetics in the susceptibility to MS 2) to examine the effects of the shared familial environment on MS risk and 3) to determine if a maternal effect can increase the risk to MS. Fourteen thousand nine hundred and ninety active Multiple Sclerosis (MS) clinic patients were screened as part of the CCPGSMS between the dates of Sept., 1994 and May,1996. From this group, 203 twin pairs, (80 monozygotic and 123 dizygotic), were identified. The proband-wise monozygotic twin concordance rate was 28.25% (SE. 5.84%) and the dizygotic twin concordance rate was 5.61% (S.E. 2.45%). The risk to the non-twin sibs of an index case was estimated at 2.49% (S.E. 0.74%) which was not significantly different than the dizygotic twin risk estimate, 0.05