Genetic Triggers in Multiple Scerosis

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Genetics is behind the rise of auto immune diseases, but also environmental triggers. One person might develop an auto immune disease while another won't - even if both are eating fast food or ar overweight. So how are you investigating the genetics behind this? My work really tries to build on the huge success that we've had over the last ten years of finding the regions in our d and a that are directly involved in the development of these diseases. It's a bit like having a treasure map. We don't know what the treasure is.

Could the food we eat and the air we breathe be damaging our immune systems? The number of people with autoimmune diseases, from rheumatoid arthritis to type 1 diabetes, began to increase around 40 years ago in the west. Now, some are also emerging in countries that had never seen the diseases before. In this episode from January 2022, Ian Sample speaks to the genetic scientist and consultant gastroenterologist James Lee about how this points to what western lifestyles might be doing to our health, and how genetics could reveal exactly how our immune systems are malfunctioning. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod