MS is a disease where the body's own immune cells attack the brain and spinal cord, leading to symptoms like muscle stiffness and problems walking and talking.
They discovered that genes which increase the risk of MS entered into north-western Europe about 5,000 years ago via a massive migration of cattle herders called Yamnaya.
The research project was a huge undertaking - genetic information was extracted from ancient human remains found in Europe and Western Asia, and compared with the genes of hundreds of thousands of people living in the UK today.
Prof Lars Fugger, paper author and MS doctor at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, says the discovery helps "demystify" the disease.
Drugs currently used to treat MS target the body's immune system, but the downside is the risk of suppressing it so much that patients struggle to fight off infections.
DNA from pre-historic hunter-gatherer people raises the risk of Alzheimer's, but ancient farmers' genes are linked to mood disorders, the research explains.
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Interesting read. So I now wonder if MS also existed and would present itself back when this gene became prevalent (and people lived long enough), or if there are new environmental factors (or anything else) that is tricking this gene/immune system into thinking that the nerve coating is something that it should be attacking.