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Last chance to have your say on complementary and alternative therapies

source: MSIF

You have until 12 October 2009 to inform the next issue of MS in focus, on complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) and MS, by taking part in our survey.

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Profile of the Month : January 2010

Kent Andersson

Country: Sweden
Age: 55
Type of MS: Relapsing-remitting
Year of Diagnosis: 1997

"I felt a big relief when I first participated in meetings with other people who have MS. We could share experiences and discuss our strange symptoms. This made the MS diagnosis less strange and scary to me."

English Español French Italiano Русский

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Differentiating multiple sclerosis from other causes of demyelination using diffusion weighted imaging of the corpus callosum

MS is an inflammatory-demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). However, other demyelinating diseases also affect the CNS. Differentiation between MS and other diseases is crucial because of differences in prognosis and treatment. This differentiation is not always straightforward because clinical features of these diseases may overlap with those of MS. Conventional MRI techniques may show similar patterns of brain damage for MS and for the other diseases. The authors aimed to compare the brains of normal appearance (the brain tissue outside the lesions) of people with MS with the normal-appearing brains of people with other diseases affecting the CNS. They used a relatively new MRI technique diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), which examines the ability of water to spread through brain tissue. The group of people with MS had higher levels of water diffusion, indicating a higher degree of damage, than the other groups, but only in a specific part of the white matter of the brain, the corpus callosum, which is a crucial structure of the brain which contains white matter fibres to connect the two hemispheres. The authors suggest that DWI may be a useful tool to differentiate MS from other diseases affecting the CNS.

authors: Straus Farber R, Devilliers L, Miller A, Lublin F, Law M, Fatterpekar G, Delman B, Naidich T

source: J Magn Reson Imaging. 2009 Sep 28;30(4):732-736

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Apolipoprotein genotype does not influence MS severity, cognition, or brain atrophy

MS is a complex disease where genes and environment seem to play a role in its pathogenesis. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is involved in the pathogenesis of MS, in addition to other neurological diseases. To date, studies about APOE and MS have had contradictory results. Therefore, the authors investigated the association between the different genetic variants of the APOE gene and MS related parameters, such as rate of progression of physical disability, cognitive function and brain volume loss, in more than 1000 people with MS. Their results showed that APOE genes do not influence any of these MS parameters. This study highlights the importance of large, population-based studies, in confirming or refuting previously reported genetic associations with MS severity.

authors: van der Walt A, Stankovich J, Bahlo M, Taylor BV, van der Mei IA, Foote SJ, Kilpatrick TJ, Rubio JP, Butzkueven H

source: Neurology. 2009 Sep 29;73(13):1018-25

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IFN-{beta} inhibits human Th17 cell differentiation

Interferon beta (IFNb) is one of the accepted treatments for MS, but its exact mechanism of action is not yet completely understood. There is biological evidence that Th17, a specific type of immune cell, has an important role in the pathogenesis of MS. A significant accumulation of these cells has been found in the lesions of people with MS. The authors aimed to investigate the influence of IFNb on all different levels of Th17 metabolism. The main results were that IFNb suppressed the activity of Th17 cells at different stages of their metabolism, both directly, by preventing them from becoming “active”, and indirectly, by preventing other immune cells from producing specific proteins directly involved in the metabolism of Th17. This study provides some insights into the mechanism of action of IFNb.

authors: Ramgolam VS, Sha Y, Jin J, Zhang X, Markovic-Plese S

source: J Immunol. 2009 Sep 25

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Neurological functional recovery after thymosin beta4 treatment in mice with experimental auto encephalomyelitis

MS is an inflammatory-demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) of unknown cause. Although the exact pathological processes underlying this disease are not yet fully understood, it is believed that oligodendrocytes, cells that provide myelin in the CNS, are crucial because once the myelin is damaged, they can help reestablish the lowered myelin content. In MS, oligodendrocytes can also be damaged, which means that their repairing role may be negatively affected, Thymosin beta 4 (Tbeta4), a protein which can be found in mammalian CNS, has been shown to promote the regeneration of damaged cardiac tissue after infarction and to have anti-inflammatory properties. The authors aimed to investigate the role of Tbeta4 in reducing inflammation of the CNS and in promoting formation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPC) in a mouse model of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The authors compared two groups of mice with EAE, one treated with Tbeta4 and another with saline. They found that the group treated with Tbeta4 showed a reduction of inflammation and an increase of OPC and mature oligodendrocytes in their brains. The mice treated with Tbeta4 also showed a significant neurological functional recovery of their disability. Although further studies are needed to confirm the role of Tbeta4 in EAE, these results may have important clinical implications.

authors: Zhang J, Zhang ZG, Morris D, Li Y, Roberts C, Elias SB, Chopp M

source: Neuroscience. 2009 Sep 24

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Human neural stem cells ameliorate autoimmune encephalomyelitis in non-human primates

In chronic phases of MS, after a first period characterised by inflammatory-demyelinating changes, a slow, progressive and irreversible damage of the central nervous system (CNS) is a predominant feature of the disease, being possibly responsible for the accrual of disability. Current MS drugs are only able to reduce the inflammatory-demyelinating component. They do not have a clear effect on the progressive damage occurring in the CNS nor do they have an effect as regenerative agents of the damaged tissue of the brain or spinal cord. For this reason, stem cell therapy could be an appealing therapeutic approach, as it seems able to promote regeneration of this permanent damage. Neural stem cells have been shown to provoke a significant amelioration of damaged neural tissue in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model of MS. However, neural stem cells have not yet been tested in humans with MS, in contrast with haematopoietic stem cells, whose efficacy as treatment for people with MS is still a matter of controversy. In this study the authors compared two groups of common marmosets (primates) with EAE. One group was treated with human neural stem cells and the other received a placebo. They found that the group treated with neural stem cells had significantly better outcomes in terms of accumulated disability and survival. This study represents a major step towards a future use of neural stem cells for people with MS.

authors: Pluchino S, Gritti A, Blezer E, Amadio S, Brambilla E, Borsellino G, Cossetti C, Del Carro U, Comi G, 't Hart B, Vescovi A, Martino G

source: Ann Neurol. 2009 May 11;66(3):343-354

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Worldwide trip to meet people with MS

source: MSIF, MS Ireland, Italian MS Society & MS Society India

Analia Pierini from Italy was diagnosed with MS in 1997. She is organising a trip around the world where she will meet people with MS in different countries and continents.

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EMD Serono applies to FDA for approval of oral Cladribine for relapsing MS – approval would mean first oral disease-modifying therapy for MS

source: US MS Society

EMD Serono has announced that it has applied to the US Food and Drug Administration seeking approval to market Cladribine as the first oral disease-modifying therapy for relapsing forms of MS.

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Oral pill Fingolimod reduces relapses and disability progression

source: UK MS Society

Drug manufacturer Novartis has announced further results from its phase three study of the oral pill Fingolimod (FTY-720) in people with relapsing-remitting MS.

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Fast Forward announces collaborative alliance with the Accelerated Cure Project, a national nonprofit organisation, to support ACP’s Tissue Repository Programme

source: US MS Society

Fast Forward, a subsidiary of the US National MS Society, and the Accelerated Cure Project for MS, a US national non-profit organisation, today announced a collaboration to support the Accelerated Cure Project’s Tissue Repository Programme.

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