Hereditary Rickets and Multiple Sclerosis Linked

THURSDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- Hereditary rickets due to altered vitamin D metabolism is associated with multiple sclerosis, according to study findings published in the June issue of the Archives of Neurology.

Oivind Torkildsen, M.D., from the University of Bergen in Norway, and colleagues examined the association between vitamin D-dependent rickets type I (hereditary rickets, due to a mutation in the CYP27B1 gene) and multiple sclerosis in three patients from two families with both conditions.

The researchers found that the patients indeed had the CYP27B1 gene mutation and confirmed multiple sclerosis by the Poser criteria and MRI.

"Vitamin D-dependent rickets type I is a very uncommon genetic subtype of rickets," Torkildsen and colleagues conclude. "We have identified three patients with this disease who later developed multiple sclerosis. We propose that vitamin D-dependent rickets type I and possibly other hereditary rickets mutations that influence vitamin D metabolism could be risk factors for this disease."

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