MGA News February 1997

Announcing the award of a grant of £79,538 from the National Lottery Charities Board. Mr Geoff Buckley, Chairman of the Myasthenia Gravis Association (MGA) said:

"We are delighted that the importance of the research into Myasthenia Gravis, funded by MGA and carried out at the John Radcliffe Hospital, has been recognised in this very positive way".

Preston Keeling, Chief Executive, of MGA added:

"Myasthenia Gravis is a disease which often goes undiagnosed. We are hopeful that the research, which the lottery money will pay for, will help to demonstrate how very important it is for Doctors to be aware of MG and to test for it whenever suspicious of its presence".

Background Notes on the Project

The grant of £79,538 will be spread over two years.

There are several diseases of the nervous system that are "autoimmune". In these diseases, the body's immune system, instead of restricting itself to foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses, attacks the nervous system. These conditions can result in many different symptoms including muscle weakness, loss of sensation or unsteadiness of gait. The most common disease of this type is Myasthenia Gravis and this disease is beginning to be found more frequently in elderly people. In this and other conditions, there is sometimes an underlying tumour that provokes the "autoimmune" reaction. In the other cases, the cause is unknown. We suggest that all these diseases become more common with age, and that they may often go undiagnosed in the elderly. The Neurosciences Group at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford support by MGA has established a number of blood tests to diagnose these quite rare but potentially treatable conditions.

The proposal is to test blood from at least 1600 elderly individuals both those living in the community and those who are being assessed for other complaints in hospital. We hope to establish the prevalence of unrecognised autoimmune disease of the nervous system, and to improve the early diagnosis of the associated tumours where they occur, so that appropriate treatment can be instigated and quality of life improved.

MGA NEWS February 1997

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