MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Lemtrada and B-cells, DMT Efficacy, Botox and the Brain, a Diet Recommendation

Lemtrada Can Lower Number of B-cells Infiltrating Nervous System and Forming Clumps, Animal Study Shows

I usually stay away from recommending articles about mice studies, but this article does a nice job of explaining how Lemtrada works and the role of B-cells in multiple sclerosis (MS). As someone treated with Lemtrada (alemtuzumab), it definitely caught my eye.

Treating mice in a model of multiple sclerosis with Lemtrada prevented the formation of B-cell aggregates in the animals’ central nervous system and disrupted already existing ones, researchers report.

The treatment also reduced disease activity when administered at the peak of disease.

The study, “Anti-CD52 antibody treatment depletes B cell aggregates in the central nervous system in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis,” was published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

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Long-term DMT Use Seen to Lower Likelihood of RRMS Progressing to SPMS in Study

This headline seems to be encouraging, but it only tells half of the story. Yes, the study reports that long-term use of a DMT can lessen, or slow, MS progression. But, it also says that they don’t help once the disease reaches the SPMS stage. I’ll go with the half-full glass view; especially since I’ve been SPMS for years, but I think that I’d be a whole lot worse if it weren’t for my DMTs 

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Long-term treatment with DMTs appears to lessen the risk of disease worsening in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients, an 18-year follow-up study suggests.

But these therapies were not seen to benefit those who had progressed to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS).

The study, “Onset of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis is not influenced by current relapsing multiple sclerosis therapies,” was published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal – Experimental, Translational and Clinical.

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Botox Increases Activity of Brain Regions Involved in Urinary Sensation, New Study Shows

Doctors have used Botox injections for years to treat the urinary symptoms that are common in people with MS. There’s been a lot of research into the impact of these injections on the bladder’s detrusor muscle. But this study is different. It reveals that these injections may also affect regions of the brain that are responsible for sensing bladder fullness, urgency, and frequency.

Botox injections in the bladder muscle increase the activity of brain regions involved in the sensation of urinary urgency in female MS patients who have neurogenic overactive bladder (NOAB), a new study shows.

The study, “Higher Neural Correlates in Multiple Sclerosis Patients with Neurogenic Overactive Bladder Following Treatment with Intradetrusor Injection of OnabotulinumtoxinA,” was published in The Journal of Urology.

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Healthy Diet May Lower Risk of Developing MS, Study Finds

There are all sorts of diets that are marketed as being helpful to people who have MS. This study, however, looks at the food people eat before they receive an MS diagnosis. But the recommendation is familiar: eat more fish, poultry, eggs, and vegetables, and less meat and high-fat dairy. Couldn’t this be recommended to reduce the likelihood of many diseases?

People who eat a healthy diet that includes foods such as vegetables, fish, eggs, poultry, and legumes may have a reduced risk of MS, a study suggests.

The study, “A healthy dietary pattern associates with a lower risk of a first clinical diagnosis of central nervous system demyelination,” was published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal.

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