10.21.15
Anoctamin 2 occurred in about 16% of MS cases
CHICAGO — Although its exact role isn’t fully understood, the protein anoctamin 2 (ANO2) may have a role to play in multiple sclerosis, researchers reported here.
In a case-control study, about 16% of MS cases carried the protein, compared with only 3% of controls, Peter Nilsson, PhD, of the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, reported during a poster session at the Society for Neuroscience meeting here.
“Its role remains to be understood, but for sure we can say it’s an interesting protein in context of autoimmunity and MS,” Nilsson told MedPage Today. “But that’s as far as we are today.”
The work is part of the Human Protein Atlas, an international collaboration of researchers that has cataloged more than 25,000 antibodies, targeting proteins from more than 17,000 human genes — about 86% of all human protein-coding genes.
The group also released the Mouse Brain Atlas, which captures 88 genes with in-depth protein profiling and 129 different mouse brain regions and cell types. Many of the mouse proteins have extensive homology with the human counterpart, the researchers said.
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