Scientists are hailing the discovery of 48 genetic variants which influence the risk of a person getting multiple sclerosis as a breakthrough that brings them a step closer to finding a cure.

A team of scientists from 13 countries, including Australia, examined the DNA collected from 80,000 people with and without MS, in a bid to understand why certain people are susceptible to the debilitating disease and others are not.

They were able to double the number of known genetic variants that they say can make a person more susceptible to developing MS.

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Professor David Booth from the Westmead Millennium Institute, one of the nearly 200 genetic scientists who pooled their knowledge in the global study, says the findings demonstrated the key role played by a person's immune system in the disease's development.

"These genes, like the first ones that we've found, are actually all immune genes," he told ABC's AM program.

"So what they suggest is that even though multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease, it's damage to the brain that characterises it.

"It looks like susceptibility is mainly due to the variation in people's immune response."

The study, published in the latest Nature Genetics medical journal, also reveals a substantial overlap with genes known to be involved in other auto-immune diseases such as Crohn's and coeliac disease.

Professor Booth says scientists are closer to finding a cure for MS.

"Because we've got so many genes now, they're giving us a quite detailed information about the processes that matter in disease progression, so we now have to find why those genes affect MS," he said.

"And that should give us much more detail and ways that we can intervene to slow it or even stop it."

MS takes psychological toll as well

Full-time mother Emma Giunti is one of about 23,000 Australians living with MS, although the 37-year-old counts herself as relatively lucky.

"I call myself a bit of an MS phony because my symptoms are extremely minimal," she said.

"After I was diagnosed, my symptoms went away, so the optic-neuritis went away and I haven't had any symptoms since.

"The mystery about MS is that there's people like me who it doesn't affect their daily life.

"And then you've got the other end of the spectrum, which you've got people who are in wheelchairs.

"And then you've got everything in between that as well."

Ms Giunti's biggest concern at the moment is a psychological one.

"If I'm in the kitchen chopping something up ... holding something and I accidentally drop it, I think, oh gosh, is that MS related?" she said.

"So even something very small. I've had a couple of migraine auras which are when your eyesight goes a bit funny just for about 20 minutes. And it's a form of having a migraine.

"My eyesight went and I did burst into tears, and I thought, oh my god is this MS coming back?

"You think, well I could wake up tomorrow morning and not be able to get out of bed. I might not be able to see.

"It's the what-ifs that ... I try not to think about it too much because... you'll just freak yourself out."

Race to recognise early warning signs

Professor Booth says scientists are anxious to make headway in the struggle to understand the disease, devise more targeted treatments and, ultimately, develop a cure.

"What we're expecting is if we find out why these genes affect MS, we'll be able to find out ways to stop the bad effects," he said.

"And so there's a very good chance that they'll turn out to be biomarkers, which will allow us to monitor the silent phase of the disease.

"And hopefully [we'll] see whether the drugs are working before damage to the brain occurs."

He says recognition of MS symptoms plays a key role in the effective treatment of the disease.

"The key thing is working out whether people are responding or not," he said.

"The most common type of MS is relapsing, remitting MS.

"Most of the time they're in the remitting phase because this process is fairly silent in that phase. You don't know what's going on.

"One of the ways you find out what's going on is you do MRI scans on the brain. But you can't do that all the time.

"By stopping these genes we should be able to divide MS up more ... and be able to personalise therapy more, as well as generally finding new therapeutic approaches."