News

When Microsoft rolled out its original Kinect system for playing Xbox video games in November 2010, the technology caught the eye of giant multinational healthcare company Novartis. A longstanding research challenge for Novartis has been to devise and design more consistent methods of quantifying whether multiple sclerosis (MS) treatments…

TNF-α blocking drugs, such as infliximab, surprised investigators when their use in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) actually triggered demyelination. In a case report published in the journal Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers reviewed an aggressive demyelinating event in a non-MS patient treated with TNF-α blockers. TNF-α blockers…

A research team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) launched a study on people at risk for developing multiple sclerosis (MS), a debilitating disease that affects more than 400,000 people in the United States and about…

Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers reported that antibodies directed at lipids are associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of brain degeneration in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), and may potentially serve as biomarkers for monitoring disease status. While the hyperintense brain lesions detected by MRI are crucial for diagnosis and therapeutic…

Taste deficits are considerably more prevalent in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients than previously thought, and correlate directly with the severity of MS-related brain lesions, researchers report in an article titled “Taste dysfunction in multiple sclerosis,” published in the Journal of Neurology. Sensory problems are common MS symptoms, with…

Stable multiple sclerosis (MS) patients do not appear to be at any increased risk of disease reactivation while switching to oral therapy following treatment with injectable interferon-β/glatiramer acetate (IFNβ/GA), a study reports. Recently published in the European Journal of Neurology, the Australian study was titled “Risk of early…

The VWR Charitable Foundation recently celebrated its sales teams’ accomplishments by making charitable contributions totaling $100,000 in their honor to five organizations, including the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. VWR, based in Radnor, Pennsylvania, provides products, services, and solutions for the laboratory and production needs of customers in the pharmaceutical, biotech, education, government, and…

Synthetic Biologics, Inc., a clinical stage company focused on the development of therapeutics to protect the microbiome and to target disease-causing pathogens, recently announced disappointing results from an independent third-party analysis of a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating Trimesta as a treatment for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) in women.

In a new study using several mouse models of human immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers found that increased levels of an endogenous protein called tristetraprolin (TTP) resulted in protection against pro-inflammatory diseases. The results suggested that this natural protein might constitute a valuable therapeutic strategy to reduce…

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society announced that its five-year campaign to raise $250 million has concluded with its goal fully achieved, allowing the society to launch more research into multiple sclerosis (MS) and effect more life-changing progress than at any other time in its nearly 70-year history. A total 818 research projects…

Researchers have found that changes in the composition of immune molecules — specifically, a shift to more anti-inflammatory cytokines and regulatory T-cells (Tregs) — likely account for the efficiency of alemtuzumab (Lemtrada) as a treatment for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The study, titled “Alemtuzumab long-term immunologic effect: Treg suppressor function…

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., announced the publication of a research article detailing the process by which Thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4), the company’s novel therapeutic peptide, effectively promoted the remyelination process in two separate animal models commonly used for multiple sclerosis (MS) research. The article, “Thymosin beta4 promotes oligodendrogenesis in the demyelinating…

In a recent study of more than 1,200 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), a research team reported that treatment with the drug natalizumab (Tysabri) could lead to a tenfold increase in the levels of blood antibodies associated with a virus causing a rare but severe brain disease known as progressive multifocal…

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF) are asking African-Americans with multiple sclerosis, as well as family members, to participate in new studies into the genetic origins of the disease. The studies will investigate both people of African ancestry with MS, who are known to have low susceptibility for the disease, and those of Northern European descent,…

Researchers developed a new way of using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to better distinguish multiple sclerosis (MS)-related “white spots” from similar brain lesions that corresponding to other conditions. Their article, “Imaging central veins in brain lesions with 3-T T2*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging differentiates multiple sclerosis from microangiopathic brain lesions,” was…

Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with natalizumab have an increased risk of developing high levels of antibodies associated with a virus causing a rare, but often fatal, brain infection known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), researchers reported. Their study, “Therapy with natalizumab is associated with high JCV seroconversion and rising JCV index values,”…

Geoff Flynn, 42, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) two and a half years ago. As unsettling as that diagnosis was, more troubling — both then and now — were the five long years of struggle it took for him to get a proper evaluation as to the cause of his neurological…

Researchers identified a new mechanism in the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) that might explain the cognitive impairment and decline observed in these patients — a decline not directly associated with disease’s hallmarks of motor control loss, and one not currently addressed by the immunosuppressive drugs used to treat MS. The study, published…

Researchers from Karolinska Institute, Sweden, reported that the immune-associated protein lipocalin-2 (LCN2) is increased in multiple sclerosis, particularly in patients with progressive MS. The researchers, however, concluded that the factor cannot be used as a biomarker for the disease. The study, “Lipocalin-2 is increased in progressive multiple sclerosis…

Millions of television viewers who watched the popular HBO mob drama series “The Sopranos” saw actress Jamie Lynn Sigler grow from a teen into a young woman as Meadow Soprano, the independent-minded daughter of mafia boss Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini. This week, Sigler revealed she has been battling multiple…

Researchers have isolated the particular cell types likely to initiate common brain disorders and diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer’s disease, a finding that may point the way to new and targeted treatments. The brain has a complex cellular architecture characterized by a diverse set of cell types that are…

Researchers from the University College London (UCL) found that the anti-convulsant drug phenytoin protected neural tissue in patients with optic neuritis — often the first symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) — a condition that causes the nerves carrying information between the eyes and the brain to become inflamed and progressively damaged. The study…

Premature infants are known to be at risk of cerebral injury due to oxygen deprivation and later problems with cognitive development, but an immunomodulating drug mostly used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) may be of help. Researchers in Germany and Switzerland reported that the drug fingolimod (Gilenya) prevented brain…

A panel of neurologists from the U.K. and Ireland recently developed practical consensus guidelines for monitoring multiple sclerosis (MS) patients on natalizumab (Tysabri) therapy for the risk of developing progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a life-threatening viral infection caused by the John Cunningham (JC) virus. The panel was summoned by…

Researchers have described the mechanisms by which cell precursors of oligodendrocytes — the cells responsible for the generation of myelin in the central nervous system — migrate from their birthplace to their workplace during brain and spinal cord development, and begin to mature and wrap about nerve fibers. The finding, the authors…

A study from the University of Cambridge showed that the membrane-bound signaling protein EphrinB3, which acts by inhibiting the maturation of oligodendrocytes, also blocks the remyelination of damaged neurons in multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, “Antibody-mediated neutralization of myelin-associated EphrinB3 accelerates CNS re-myelination,“ uncovered a new target to explore…

Researchers have discovered a protein regulator that leads to autoimmune inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, a possibly important discovery because potential therapeutic targets for diseases like MS are believed to lie in this cascade of inflammatory events. The researchers, in fact, suggest that the regulator, called Trabid, is one of…

Delayed-release dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera) was recently approved for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), although the mechanisms by which the drug exerts its action were not fully understood. A new study from the University Hospital Münster, Germany, shows that dimethyl fumarate alters the balance between subpopulations of T-cells to promote…

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society in the U.S. has awarded a new grant to a University College London (UCL)  research team to continue work into compounds with the potential to act as neuroprotective therapies for degenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS). The financial support comes through the Society’s business-oriented subsidiary, the Fast Forward venture.

Amarantus Bioscience Holdings, Inc., and Avant Diagnostics recently announced they have entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) to merge Amarantus Diagnostics, an Amarantus-owned subsidiary, into Avant Diagnostics. The merger is being undertaken to advance the commercial development of diagnostic assets in the fields of oncology and neurology, including those specifically…