November 29, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Removing Transporter Protein Spns2 Protects Against MS in Mice Blocking the activity of Spns2, a transporter of the sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) protein, reduced the severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) in a mouse model, a new study shows. The findings point to Spns2 as a new molecular target for MS treatments that could reduce the side effects associated…
November 28, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Switching to Ocrevus Over Other MS Therapies Means Fewer Relapses People with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who switch to Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) after discontinuing Gilenya (fingolimod) have fewer relapses than those who switch to Mavenclad (cladribine) or Tysabri (natalizumab), according to a new study. Rates of disability worsening were similar for Ocrevus and Tysabri, but patients who switched…
November 23, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Add-on Supplement May Bolster Interferon Therapies for RRMS A dietary supplement called Neuroaspis plp10 significantly lowered relapse rates and slowed disability progression among people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) on interferon beta medications, according to a small clinical trial in Greece. “The results of this study suggest that Neuroaspis plp10 may offer greater benefit to patients with RRMS…
November 22, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Panel Calls for New Way to Classify MS Based on Underlying Biology An international panel is calling for new methods to classify multiple sclerosis (MS) that reflect the disease’s underlying biology, rather than differences in clinical presentation. The approach would fundamentally change how patients, clinicians, and other stakeholders understand and describe the disease, but would enable the development of biologically based…
November 22, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS MS Patients Help Steer Guidelines for Talks About Brain Volume Loss A team of doctors, researchers, and patients has come up with a set of recommendations to help medical professionals in navigating difficult discussions with patients about brain atrophy — or shrinkage — with multiple sclerosis (MS). “Our goal is to minimize misunderstanding and apprehension about brain atrophy, also known…
November 21, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS 2 Years of Vidofludimus Calcium Thwarts Disability Progression: Data Most adults with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who received Immunic Therapeutics‘ investigational therapy vidofludimus calcium have had no confirmed disability progression after two years of treatment. That’s according to new interim data from the open-label extension portion of the EMPhASIS trial, which has been running for nearly…
November 18, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Effect of Diabetes Medicines on MS Risk Varies by Age, Sex in US Study Among people with type 2 diabetes, the use of anti-hyperglycemic medications is associated with a reduced risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) for younger individuals, but an increased risk for older patients, particularly women. That’s according to the study “Age and sex differences on anti-hyperglycemic medication…
November 17, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS New Test Reveals Slower Signals Between Brain Regions in Patients Using a new approach to track signals traveling between different brain regions, researchers found that these signals are slower in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), even in regions with no apparent disease-related damage, a new study reports. The approach may help complement MRI findings to determine the extent of…
November 16, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS How Stem Cell Transplant Can ‘Reset’ Immune System in MS: Study Following an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (aHSCT) in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), the population of “naïve” T-cells — components of the immune system that enable the body to fight off new, unrecognized infections — is completely renewed but some memory T-cells, which are responsible for rapid responses…
November 15, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Rituximab Doses for MS Might Be Best Timed By Measuring B-cells Timing doses of rituximab by measuring B-cell counts is a more tailored approach to treatment, and it effectively reduces relapses and disability progression in multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a small study in patients with active disease. This tailored approach allowed patients to receive less frequent doses if their B-cell counts…
November 14, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Dietary Changes Can Help Ease Fatigue, Improve Quality of Life Dietary interventions may help ease fatigue and improve quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), although it doesn’t seem to impact disability progression, according to a new analysis. Researchers emphasized that it’s difficult to draw solid conclusions about the impact of diet in MS because there haven’t…
November 10, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Measuring Growth of Lesions in MS Better Predicts Disability Progression Measuring how lesions get bigger over time in multiple sclerosis (MS) can predict long-term disability progression more accurately than other lesion-based assessments, a new study reports. “Enlargement of T2 [total] lesions, and specifically of its volume, … is more strongly associated with long-term disability progression compared to other…
November 9, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Life Expectancy Declines Linked to More Severe MS Disability in Study Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with minimal to moderate disability live about 30 additional years after their diagnosis, but life expectancy steadily decreases as patients reach more advanced levels of disability, a new study suggests. For example, average life expectancy drops to just over a decade when patients become unable to…
October 25, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Risk of MS Activity After DMT Stop Greater With RRMS, Younger Age Note: This story was updated Oct. 31, 2022, to correct that in the six months after treatment discontinuation, relapses were reported in 18.8% of RMMS patients and 3.5% of those with SPMS. When multiple sclerosis (MS) patients stop their disease-modifying treatment, the risk of relapses and disease activity on…
October 24, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Trethera Awarded $1.6M to Develop TRE-515 as Optic Neuritis Treatment Trethera has been awarded a $1.6 million grant to further develop TRE-515 as a potential treatment for optic neuritis — inflammation of the nerves that transmit data from the eyes to the brain — which also is a common symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS). TRE-515 is a first-in-class…
October 24, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Recurrent MS Disability Progression Measures May Aid Trial Efficiency Measuring disability progression every time it occurs, rather than just tracking whether it occurs, could improve the statistical power of clinical trials in multiple sclerosis (MS), particularly for progressive forms of the disease. That’s according to scientists at Roche and several academic institutions who published their findings in…
October 19, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS SYK Protein Needed for Microglial Cells to Clear Molecular Debris A protein called spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) is critical for microglia, the brain’s immune cells, to clear the toxic debris that accumulates in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological disorders, a mouse model study shows. “We have discovered a master controller of the cell type and processes that are…
October 18, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS MS Therapy EHP-101 Boosts Blood Vessel Growth, Targets Inflammation EHP-101, an experimental treatment being clinically tested for multiple sclerosis (MS), activates a cellular signaling pathway that promotes blood vessel development and reduces inflammation following brain injury, a new study shows. The findings continue to support the use of EHP-101 in MS, a condition marked by excess inflammation and…
October 13, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS New Gait Analysis Tool Found to Correctly ID MS Patients in Videos A new tool that analyzes gait, or walking patterns, of people on a treadmill — using video recordings from a simple digital camera — is able to accurately identify those with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study showed. Scientists said the gait-analysis tool may be a low-cost and easy-to-use way…
October 12, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Partnership Aims at Cell Therapy Targeting Epstein-Barr Virus in MS NexImmune is working with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to develop cell therapies for people with immunological disorders associated with certain viral infections, namely the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1). A history of infection with EBV — mostly…
October 11, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Passive Health Tracking Can Predict Changes in MS, Study Says Data passively collected by smartphone apps and fitness trackers can be used to accurately predict the risk of depression, severe fatigue, poor sleep quality, and symptom worsening in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) when in-person health visits are suddenly limited. These are the findings of a small study that…
October 10, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Tecfidera Works Better Than Avonex to Ease MS in Children in Trial Among children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS), treatment with Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) resulted in less disease activity on MRI scans and fewer relapses, compared with Avonex (interferon beta-1a), according to new data from the CONNECT Phase 3 trial. Researchers noted the lack of disease-modifying therapies…
October 7, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS PET Tracer for Myelin Loss Shows Good Safety in 1st-in-human Study A novel tracer designed to detect myelin loss in PET scans — imaging tests that use a radioactive substance, called a tracer, to look for disease in the body — showed a good safety profile in a small first-in-human study. Scientists say this new tracer could potentially help in evaluating…
October 5, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Direct Electrical Stimulation of Brain Found to Ease MS Spasticity Electrical stimulation of the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp may ease some measures of spasticity for people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), according to results from a small clinical trial. Using this novel route of brain stimulation was shown to impact muscle contractions in patients with spasticity…
October 4, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Stem Cell Transplant May Halt Nerve Fiber Damage in RRMS: Study Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (aHSCT) reduces markers of nerve fiber and myelin damage in people with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), according to a small study done in Sweden. “We investigated if therapeutic intervention with aHSCT could halt the injurious process leading to tissue damage in MS,” researchers wrote.
October 3, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Guar Gum, Type of Dietary Fiber, Eases MS Severity in Mouse Model Guar gum, a type of dietary fiber that can be taken as a supplement, lessened inflammation and disease severity in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study reports. While fiber-rich diets have long been recommended to improve overall health, these findings help pinpoint which fibers have…
September 30, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Quick MRI Method May Reliably Detect Myelin Repair in People A quick MRI-based method called SyMRI may be useful in future clinical trials to test experimental myelin-repairing therapies in diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study shows. The study, “Quantification of individual remyelination during short-term disease course by synthetic magnetic resonance imaging,” was published in Brain…
September 29, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Study Supports MS Disability Test Score as Outcome Measure in Trials The Overall Disability Response Score, a combination of three different assessments of disability, could be used to more accurately evaluate the effectiveness of treatments in multiple sclerosis (MS) clinical trials, a new study illustrates. The score is composed of three measures commonly used to assess disability in MS, which…
September 28, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS AI Tool Aims to Make Progressive MS Trials More Effective for Patients A new machine learning tool could help make clinical trials for progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) more efficient and effective, a study suggests. Its scientists propose that the tool, when used in initial patient studies, works to more rapidly move a potential progressive MS treatment into pivotal Phase…
September 27, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Dual Cognitive, Motor Tasks More Difficult Even in Early MS Stages Even in early stages of disease, people with multiple sclerosis (MS) commonly experience more difficulties performing cognitive and motor tasks simultaneously than do people without MS, a new study indicates. The study, “Cognitive-motor interference in people with mild to moderate multiple sclerosis, in comparison with healthy…