October 23, 2023 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Protein that helps immune cells infiltrate MS brain ID’d in mice In a surprise discovery, researchers found that deleting a protein called integrin alpha-3 blocked harmful immune cells from accessing the brain ā and prevented the onset of symptoms ā in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Now, the researchers say that targeting this protein might be one way…
July 28, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Gut bacteria may be key to activate immune cells that trigger MS Pro-inflammatory immune cells that can target the brain may be activated in a specific region of the intestine by certain gut bacteria before migrating to the brain, according to a new study done in mice. Researchers say these findings provide a proof of concept for how some immune cells may…
July 13, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Inflammation in brain membranes may act as trigger in MS: Study Inflammation in the membranes around the brain may trigger an inflammatory response that can spread into nearby brain tissue, a new study in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS) shows. Researchers say these findings may help to advance scientists’ understanding of the mechanisms that underlie brain damage in…
June 9, 2023 Columns by Ed Tobias Could a digital bridge to link brain and spinal cord help those with MS? We all know that the difficulty many of us with multiple sclerosis (MS) have walking can be caused by lesions that damage the nerves along the spinal cord. What if an electronic bridge could be built to carry nerve impulses over those damaged areas? That concept is being…
January 12, 2023 News by Joana Vindeirinho, PhD Benefits of Aerobic Exercise in MS Modulated by Specific Brain Region Aerobic training for up to three months significantly outperformed less-strenuous exercise at improving walking capacity among people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study reports. However, the benefits of aerobic exercise seem to be greater among patients without MS-related damage in the insula ā a brain region involved 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 brainās immune cells, to clear the toxic debris that accumulates in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological disorders, a mouse model study shows. āWe have discovered a master controller of the cell type and processes that are…
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…
September 30, 2022 News by Vanda Pinto, PhD IFN-beta Therapy Found to Help Blood Vessels in Brain Dilate in MS Treatment with interferon beta (IFN-beta) ā a disease-modifying therapy that lowers inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) ā was found to restore the ability of blood vessels in the brain to dilate following a stimulus. A new study suggests that this ability, called cerebrovascular reactivity or CVR, is reduced…
February 18, 2022 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD MS Australia Funds Research to Block Inflammatory T-cells From Brain A researcher at the University of Adelaide, in Australia, has received an AU$390,000 grant (about $280,000) to investigate how inflammatory T-cells reach the blood and brain of people with multiple sclerosisĀ (MS). The 3-year fellowship grant was awarded to Iain Comerford, PhD, for his project, titled “Stopping T cells…
September 17, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Rim Lesions, Suggesting Chronic Inflammation, May Be Common An imaging feature called a rim lesion is found in about 4 out of every 10 people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a review study. These rims, thought to represent areas of chronic brain inflammation in which myelin is being progressively damaged, may serve as alternate biomarkers of…
July 20, 2021 Columns by Jessie Ace Finding Comfort in Unlikely Places: TV Medical Dramas I have a weird secret. Iām sure itās not the norm for someone with a chronic illness to enjoy this as much as I do, but it always occupies my free time: I love medical dramas. They leave me enthralled with their technical and medical jargon, and their portrayal of…
January 19, 2021 News by Forest Ray PhD Brain Changes in Relapsing MS Found to Follow Pattern Changes in the amount of grey matter in specific regions of the brain appear to occur early in relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), while structural changes in white matter happen late in disease progression. These were among the findings of a recent study that tracked the sequence of events in…
May 19, 2020 News by InĆŖs Martins, PhD MS Patients Have More Aluminum Content in Their Brains Than Those Without Neurodegenerative Conditions, Study Finds People with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological diseases have a significantly higher aluminum content in their brains than those with no known neurological impairment and no identifiable neurodegenerative disease, a recent study found. The research further supports a role of aluminum in the development of these brain conditions,…
May 19, 2020 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Memory Immune Cells Play Key Role in Advanced MS, Study Suggests In the brains of people with advanced multiple sclerosis (MS), memory immune cells reside in the brain tissue rather than entering through the bloodstream, a new study suggests. The study, “Tissue-resident memory T cells invade the brain parenchyma in multiple sclerosis white matter lesions,” was published…
March 2, 2020 News by Ana Pena PhD #ACTRIMS2020 – CorTechs Says AI Models May Improve Early MS Diagnosis CorTechs Labs presented new data indicating that machine learning models based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain may aid in the early diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Company representatives, joined by other experts, also released updated recommendations for a standardized…
November 15, 2019 News by Joana Carvalho, PhD Weill Neurohub Unites 3 Academic Centers with DOE Scientists to Advance Tools, Treatments for MS and Other Ills Three academic research institutions launched the Weill Neurohub initiative, an effort to speed the discovery and development of therapies forĀ neurological diseases thatĀ includeĀ multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinsonās and Alzheimerās disease, and for psychiatric disorders like anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. The initiative unites three West Coast…
October 28, 2019 News by Steve Bryson, PhD Altered Fear Response, Changes in Brain Chemistry Seen in Mice with Poor Gut Microbiota Depleting microbes in the gut of mice led to an altered fear response, changes in gene expression in brain immune cells and changes in brain chemistry ā returning to a more normal state after their gut microbes were restored, but only if done early in life, a study…
August 2, 2019 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc MS Society, Parkinson’s UK Grant $3.6 Million to Digital Brain Bank The Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson's Tissue Bank at Imperial College London, the largest brain and tissue bank in Europe, will receive Ā£1.5 million (about $1.82 million) from the U.K.Ā MS Society. This fund will support the development of a digital brain bank powered by a virtual reality platform, which will provide new tools for researchers around the world with the ultimate goal of stopping multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological diseases. These new technologies will be used to create high-definition pictures of brain tissue donated by people with MS after their death. āWhen the tissue bank first opened in 1998 there were practically no treatments for those affected. Things are very different now and itās a privilege to work with an organization like the MS Society, which does everything it can to ensure the work of the scientific community reflects the needs of people living with MS," Richard Nicholas, PhD, scientific director of the tissue bank, said in a press release. āThis investment will ensure all researchers have access to high quality brain and spinal cord tissue from people with MS, and marks an important development in the U.K. research landscape. Weāre excited to see where it takes us,ā Nicholas added. The new-era tissue bank will grant researchers access to tissue images that can be studied extensively and indefinitely, and also will offer the opportunity to explore the brainās structures in a 3-D interactive section. Together with Parkinson's UK, these two leading neurological charities will contribute a total of Ā£3 million (about $3.6 million) over a period of five years. "The MS Society Tissue Bank has been vital in improving our understanding of MS and finding treatments for some people with the condition. But our top priority now is finding treatments to slow or stop MS for everyone,ā said Sorrel Bickley, PhD, head of biomedical research at MS Society. This new virtual database gives researchers the opportunity to develop innovative projects in which they can combine virtual tissue data with genetic analysis in an easy and more efficient way, and help define how genetic landscape can affect MS and Parkinsonās progression. āWe can see a future where nobody needs to worry about MS getting worse, but for that to happen we urgently need to find treatments that repair myelin ā the protective layer that surrounds our nerves, which is damaged in MS, and protect the nerves from damage. This funding will allow researchers to operate as effectively as possible, and ultimately help us stop MS faster,ā Bickley said.
July 26, 2019 News by Joana Carvalho, PhD MS MindShift Campaign Uses Balloon Festival to Raise Awareness About MS Brain Health Celgene and the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) are working together to bring the “MS MindShift: A New View of MS” campaign, which is raising awareness about the importance of brain health in multiple sclerosis (MS), to the 37thĀ AnnualĀ QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Readington,…
June 14, 2019 News by Joana Carvalho, PhD New AI Method Detects Brain Changes in Response to Treatment in RRMS Patients A new artificial intelligence (AI)-based model is better than conventional methods for detecting brain changes in response to treatment with Tysabri (natalizumab) in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a study reports. The study, “High-dimensional detection of imaging response to treatment in multiple sclerosis,” was published in…
June 4, 2019 News by Ana Pena PhD AxoSim Licenses Mini-Brain Technology, Which May Speed Therapy Discovery for Neurological Diseases AxoSimĀ has acquired exclusive rights to lab-grown brain miniatures, coined “Mini-Brain,” a technology developed at Johns Hopkins University that uses stem cells to create models of the human brain in a dish. This technique may help speed therapy discovery for many neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis…
February 21, 2019 News by Joana Carvalho, PhD In Creating ‘Immune Cell Atlas of Brain,’ Scientists Find Microglia Highly Complex in Behavior and Role In mapping the immune system of the brain in mice and humans, scientists in Germany found that microgliaĀ ā a type of nerve cell located in the central nervous system and responsible for supporting and protecting neuronsĀ ā share the same core design, but behave differently depending on the specific function each…
January 10, 2019 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Common Fungal Infection Can Breach the Brain and Impair Memory, Mouse Study Shows Blood infection with the yeastĀ Candida albicans,Ā a type of fungus, can reach the brain and trigger an immune response, a new mouse study shows.Ā Although the fungus can be cleared within 10 days, it affects the spatial memory of mice. These findings are the first evidence that a blood infection with a…
January 8, 2019 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Immune Cells in the Gut Can Suppress Brain Inflammation in MS, Pre-clinical Study Finds Immune cells in the intestine may reduce neuroimflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, a pre-clinical study suggests. Moreover, the augmented number of these cells was sufficient to suppress brain inflammation in an MS mouse model. The findings were reported in the study āRecirculating Intestinal IgA-Producing Cells Regulate Neuroinflammation via…
September 21, 2018 Columns by Jamie Hughes What the Scan Said (and What It Didn’t) A couple weeks ago, I went to my neurologistās office early for my annual MRI. Itās never a pleasant experience. Even after 14 years, itās still as unsettling as it was the first time. Itās not the tightness of the space that gets me or the sensations and sounds.
August 14, 2018 News by Joana Carvalho, PhD Botox Increases Activity of Brain Regions Involved in Urinary Sensation, New Study Shows BotoxĀ injections in the bladder muscle increase the activity of brain regions involved in the sensation of urinary urgency in female multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who have neurogenic overactive bladder (NOAB), a new study shows. The study, “Higher Neural Correlates in Multiple Sclerosis Patients with Neurogenic Overactive…
August 8, 2018 News by Iqra Mumal, MSc Number, Location, Size of Lesions on MRI Can Predict Progression to MS, Study Shows The number, location, and size of lesions can help predict the risk of progression from clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) to multiple sclerosis (MS) within one year, a new study shows. The study, āMRI in predicting conversion to multiple sclerosis within 1Ā year,ā was published in the journal…
June 28, 2018 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc Probe That Acts as PET Scan Tracer May Give Glimpse into Gene Therapy’s Effects on Brain A radioactive probe that might enable imaging tools to effectively monitor what a gene therapy is doing in the brain ā important in treating diseases like multiple sclerosis with such a therapy ā has been developed at Stanford University. TheĀ probe is a kind of radiotracer used successfully in this study…
June 21, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD #EAN2018 – Both Brain and Spinal MRIs Needed to Monitor MS Inflammation, Study Says Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) used to assess inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients should include scans of the spinal cord and not be restricted to the brain, because brain scans alone risk underestimating disease progression, a study suggests. These results were shared in the presentation, āMeasuring disease activity in…
February 26, 2018 News by Catarina Silva Epstein-Barr Virus Found in Brain Cells of Many MS Patients, Study Reports United Arab Emirates scientists have found active Epstein-Barr virus in many multiple sclerosis patients’ brain cells, supporting the notion that it plays a role in the disease. The team found it in two types of brain cells ā astrocytes and microglia. The virus can be active or lie dormant in…