The immune-system gene, Osteopontin, plays an important role in the progression in Multiple Sclerosis. After different studies were done in many different labs at different Universities, it was found, or discovered, that Osteopontin, and other genes, where found in Multiple Sclerosis patients in the damaged area of their brain tissues, as oppose to the good brain tissues where the gene was not found. This test was not only done to human beings, but to mice as well. The same tests were done on them at Universities, just as the human tests went. With much research, it was found that Osteopontin was found in the areas of the myelin, and damage during "relapse and remission." Myelin is a "substance" that has numerous amounts of lipids and proteins, that which forms a layer around the nerve fibers. A good example of myelin is insulation. Relapse and remission is when like Multiple Sclerosis symptoms get worse or new symptoms appear. These tests prove that Osteopontin is important in the development of Multiple Sclerosis, and to help to determine how the disease progresses whether it progresses slowly or quickly. There is still a lot of research to be done in order for these tests to be one-hundred percent .
accurate, but Osteopontin may block the progression of Multiple Sclerosis, which is great news for a lot of Multiple Sclerosis patients.
Osteopontin is located in the bone extra cellular matrix, and is a non-collagenous phosphoprotein. It has also been found in and around the intestine area, and in many numerous biological fluids. Osteopontin restrains inducible nitric oxide synthase in mouse vascular tissue. Osteopontin has a molecular weight of thirty-two thousand six hundred. It is an "acidic gene" which displays a high amino acid homology between species. "Osteopontin binds to osteoclasts in vitro via the 3integrin." Gene inactivation in mice of Osteopontin produces no prominent bone phenotype.
The skeletal system includes the osseous tissues of the body and the connective tissues that stabilize or interconnect the individual bones. The bone is a dynamic tissue. Throughout the lifespan, bone adjusts to the physiologic and mechanical demands placed on it by the processes of growth and remod...