Maureen Newman,  —

Among the different therapeutic approaches being explored for treating MS, adult stem cell therapy continues to be one of the most discussed and anticipated in the MS community. “Stem cells” — the common term for undifferentiated, self-renewing proliferating cells — are currently being investigated for their ability to treat patients in a wide range of disease…

Melatonin, the same hormone that helps people fall asleep by regulating the body’s internal clock, may be helpful in treating multiple sclerosis, according to a study from Raúl Carrea Institute for Neurological Research in Buenos Aires. Neurologists Dr. Mauricio Farez and Dr. Francisco Quintana noticed that when melatonin levels are…

Two new risk factors for multiple sclerosis have been identified by a research group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Led by Dr. Loukas Moutsianas, the team discovered that having HLA-DQA1*01:01–HLA-DRB1*15:01 and HLA-DQB1*03:01–HLA-DQB1*03:02 gene allele…

A new study testing Amarantus Diagnostics’ MSPrecise on multiple sclerosis patients identified the test as a specific and sensitive diagnostic test for multiple sclerosis. The test accurately diagnosed 84% of multiple sclerosis patients from a broad range of subjects with potential neurological diseases. These results further support Amarantus Diagnostics’ ability to design next generation…

Progressive multiple sclerosis patients treated with AB Science’s lead compound AB07002 (masitinib) in a Phase 3 clinical trial showed positive results in a non futility test (a test to determine if an experimental therapy shows some sign of efficacy). With the successful completion of the futility analysis, AB Science is…

Personalized medicine, often applied to treat cancer, may be possible for patients with multiple sclerosis as well. Certain patients respond differently to certain multiple sclerosis medications, such as interferon-β (IFNβ), and researchers at San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan may have an answer as to why. The team, led by…

The ability to assess risk may decline as multiple sclerosis disease status progresses over time, as determined by a recent study from University of Alberta in Canada. Principal investigator Esther Fujiwara, PhD, and lead author of the study, Ashley Radomski, used the game of dice task (GDT) to challenge patients…

Recent attention to the role of mitochondria in the etiology of multiple sclerosis (what causes the disease) suggests that mitochondrial defects and mitochondrial structural and functional changes may contribute to the disease. Researchers studying mitochondria in multiple sclerosis believe abnormalities in mitochondrial dynamics impact cellular pathways such as inflammation and…

A nanometric sensor — an extremely small probe originally designed to test samples for the presence of herbicides, heavy metals, and pollutants — was experimentally shown to also detect molecules commonly associated with multiple sclerosis. Physicist Fábio de Lima Leite, a professor at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar),…

RedHill Biopharma Ltd. enrolled the final patient for its Phase IIa, proof-of-concept study testing RHB-104 in patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who test positive for Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). RedHill is evaluating RHB-104 as an add-on therapy to interferon beta-1a for a treatment…

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO), a rare autoimmune disorder often mistaken for multiple sclerosis, is similar in that it is characterized by myelin destruction in the optic nerves and spinal cord. In contrast to multiple sclerosis, as reported by the Transverse Myelitis Association, NMO does not initially…

Exploratory research conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Illinois at Chicago may translate into a new therapeutic agent to treat progressive multiple sclerosis. Researchers in the laboratories of Dr. Jefferey L. Dupree and Dr. Douglas L. Feinstein tested a new compound in mice with induced multiple sclerosis…

After the Phase 2b clinical trial named Abili-T achieved full enrollment with 190 secondary progress multiple sclerosis (SPMS) patients, The Woodlands, Texas-based Opexa Therapeutics is patiently awaiting results for the company’s lead candidate, Tcelna, which are expected in the second half of 2016.

Throughout the years, Dr. Sarah Thomas and Dr. Peter Thomas at Bournemouth University have been developing a program to aid multiple sclerosis patients affected by fatigue. Their program, developed at the Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit in collaboration with colleagues at Dorset Multiple Sclerosis Service at Poole Hospital, is a…

As the most common non-traumatic cause of disability in young people in the industrialized world, multiple sclerosis affects more than 2.5 million people globally. Those who suffer with the disease are categorized into two types of multiple sclerosis patients: those with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) make up the majority of patients…

Considering the range of neurological symptoms normally associated with adult multiple sclerosis (including loss of coordination, weakness, fatigue, and trouble thinking), symptoms of pediatric multiple sclerosis are often nonspecific and affect the intestinal system. Intestinal mobility and sensation, vomiting, and long transit time for digestion (dysphagia) are symptoms that also…

A new commentary concerning genetic variability in multiple sclerosis patients highlights a new marker of disease severity. Local IgG (antibody) synthesis is found in over 90% of multiple sclerosis patients, and there is a genetic basis for this hallmark of disease. “A new genome-wide association…

What do multiple sclerosis and gout have in common? Uric acid. Uric acid, a byproduct of purine metabolism, causes crystal accumulation in joints (usually in the foot) and subsequent pain. Uric acid has also been shown to protect neurons via antioxidant activity. Since high levels of uric acid that…

Scientists are developing new tools to understand multiple sclerosis pathogenesis and monitor the benefits of treatments. One of these tools is diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a novel technique that describes the microstructural organization of white matter tracts in the brain. Although DTI has greater pathological specificity than magnetic resonance imaging…

One of the most widely disputed treatments for multiple sclerosis is low dose naltrexone (LDN). While a plethora of patient testimonies and anecdotal evidence suggest immense benefits of LDN for multiple sclerosis, many clinicians are wary due to the lack of FDA approval outside of treating heroin and alcohol addiction.

What may work better than existing drugs to treat severe multiple sclerosis? Stem cells. A phase 2 clinical study from an international group of research centers compared head-to-head autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) and mitoxantrone in treating patients with secondary progressive or relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. The findings showed that…

Under development at Innate Immunotherapeutics is a special drug candidate to treat secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). Currently, no viable therapies exist for SPMS — only less-effective means to treat SPMS patients through drugs designed for relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis — making the prospect of Innate’s experimental SPMS therapy a…

The “2014 Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutic Update,” published in the journal Neurohospitalist by author Bruce Cree, MD, PhD, MCR, provides a positive outlook on the state of current treatments and research for future treatments of multiple sclerosis. A host of new therapies, as well as common-place…

Researchers in the laboratory of Steve Goldman, MD, PhD, Co-Director of University of Rochester Center for Translational Neuromedicine, are delving deeper into the science behind progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a disease caused by the JC virus, which commonly affects multiple sclerosis patients and others with compromised immune…

Upper limb spasticity and lower leg cramps and spasms, two conditions that affect patients with multiple sclerosis, are being treated in separate clinical trials with results from both showing positive benefits. Dysport (abobotulinumtoxinA), from Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., and transient receptor potential (TRP) activators, from…

MediciNova, Inc., recently announced that it had surpassed 50% enrollment for the phase 2b clinical trial evaluating MN-166 (ibudilast) in progressive multiple sclerosis patients. As of September 15th, 150 of an expected 250 patients have enrolled for treatment, and the trial is on track to complete enrollment by the…

A vaccination against multiple sclerosis is in progress in the laboratory of SangKon Oh, PhD, at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research. Along with Gerard Zurawski, PhD, and Ted Phillips, MD, Dr. Oh is applying new insights from research in dendritic cell vaccines to a multiple sclerosis vaccine. “Dr.

For the first time, an antisense oligonucleotide has been shown to be effective in treating relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis. A phase 2a clinical trial of Antisense Therapeutics Limited’s ATL1102, a CD49d antisense drug, showed that the treatment quickly reduced brain lesions in RRMS patients following the start of therapy.

Phase 3 clinical trial results from Biogen Idec and AbbVie presented at the Sixth Triennial Joint Meeting of the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS-ECTRMIS) suggest that relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients experience…

Trying to nail down the reason for executive deficits in multiple sclerosis can be difficult, considering the number of factors related to the condition. A team of researchers from the Kessler Foundation — led by Victoria Leavitt, PhD, who is now a part of the Manhattan Memory Center, and…