Researchers have found a microbial protein from the Haemophilus influenza pathogen that is recognized by antibodies in a subpopulation of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The finding supports the idea of a link between microbial infections and neurodegenerative diseases like MS, whose causes are uncertain. Haemophilus influenza is an opportunistic pathogen…

Researchers, using camels as an inspiration, have finally developed antibodies against a group of proteins known as metalloproteinases (MMPs), which are involved in the pathology of diseases that include multiple sclerosis (MS) and cancer. Results on this work, long a goal of scientists, were published in the journal PNAS, under…

The experimental therapy laquinimod was seen to prevent the start of harmful immune responses and to disrupt the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) in a mouse model of the disease. This finding may be especially promising, as the treatment is being developed for people with both relapsing MS and its rarer progressive…

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a method for stem cell transplants that may do away with the need for prior systematic treatment with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. If successful, stem cell transplants could be an option for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), an option now limited by the…

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…

Two studies recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, revealed a possible new vaccine treatment for JC virus with important implications for multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment. The studies are entitled “JC polyomavirus mutants escape antibody-mediated neutralization” and “Broadly neutralizing human…

In a new study entitled “LINGO-1 antibody ameliorates myelin impairment and spatial memory deficits in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mice”, a team of scientists report that the loss of myelin in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients’ brains contributes to their cognitive impairment. They showed that inhibiting protein LINGO-1 can…

This week, Belgian-based biopharmaceutical company Ablynx announced they have entered into an exclusive research collaboration with Genzyme, a Sanofi company, to investigate the use of Nanobodies as part of a targeted therapeutic strategy for multiple sclerosis (MS).  The research will utilize Genzyme’s early-stage MS research programs involving neuroprotection…

Dr. Jose Álvarez-Cermeño and Dr. Luisa Villar from Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria in Madrid, Spain recently published in the journal Nature Reviews Neurology a review on the work developed by Dr. An Goris and colleagues on the link between genetic factors and multiple sclerosis…

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Rigshospitalet in Denmark have for the first time developed an accurate method to measure apolipoprotein M (apoM), a protein that is involved in several diseases like diabetes but also arteriosclerosis and sclerosis, disorders characterized by the stiffening of structures usually by…