September 19, 2018 News by Iqra Mumal, MSc Ceramides Play Role in White Blood Cell Infiltration of Central Nervous System in MS The synthesis and metabolism of fat molecules known as ceramides is linked to G-CSF signaling, which increases white blood cell infiltration into the central nervous system and results in inflammation in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study shows. The study titled, āThe relevance of ceramides and their…
August 24, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Cannabidiol Increases Inflammatory Suppressor Cells, New MS Mouse Study Shows Non-psychoactiveĀ cannabidiol (CBD), one of the active compounds in medicalĀ cannabis, significantly reduced clinical signs of multiple sclerosis (MS)-like disease in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mouse model. Researchers found that CBD promoted the increase of inflammatory-suppressor cells calledĀ myeloid-derived suppressor cells. The findings were reported in the study āCannabidiol Attenuates Experimental Autoimmune…
August 23, 2018 News by Stacy Grieve, PhD Case Study Suggests Need for New Treatment Strategy When Switching from Gilenya to Rituximab Discontinuing Gilenya (fingolimod) treatment and starting on rituximab therapy may be more complicated than originally thought. A new report chronicles the medical journey of a man with multiple sclerosis (MS) treated with these drugs, and proposes a new treatment regimen. Both Gilenya (an approved MS therapy marketed by…
June 26, 2018 News by Vijaya Iyer, PhD 1st Patient Enrolled in Study of Electrical Stimulation in Treating Brain Injury A first patient has been enrolled in a single-site trial toĀ evaluate the potential of electrical stimulation, called Ā Electroceutical Therapy, in reducing brain injury, Endonovo Therapeutics,Ā the therapy’s developer, announced. Electroceutical TherapyĀ is a non-invasive and wearable electronic device that uses pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) to stimulate the central nervous system.
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…
June 15, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Discovery of ‘Fiery’ Cell Death Mechanism May Be MS ‘Game-Changer’ Researchers have unveiled a new cell death mechanism called pyroptosis ā also known as āfiery deathā ā as a main factor driving neurodegenerationĀ and loss of myelin in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). An inhibitor of pyroptosis, currently undergoing testing in human clinical trials for epilepsy, decreased central nervous system inflammation…
June 11, 2018 News by Jose Marques Lopes, PhD Vagus Nerve Signals Could Work as ‘Early Warning System’ for Inflammation in MS and Other Disease, Study Says A new way of interpreting inflammatory signals using the vagus nerve ā which carries such signals from throughout the body to the brain ā has been found, a study reports. This finding raises the possibility of having a kind of “early warning system” for inflammation, a damaging process in such…
June 1, 2018 News by Jose Marques Lopes, PhD Chemical that Stimulates Estrogen Receptors Seen to Promote Myelin Repair Through ‘Good’ Inflammation in Mouse MS Model A chemical compound called indazole chloride promotes repair of myelin, the protective layer of nerve fibers, through ābeneficialā inflammation in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), a study reports. The preclinical research, āIncrease in chemokine CXCL1 by ERĪ² ligand treatment is a key mediator in…
May 21, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Gut Microbiome May Offer Way to Ease or Halt Brain Inflammation, Study Suggests Metabolites produced by microbes in the gut can ease inflammationĀ in the central nervous system by limiting the damage done by microglia, an immune cell of the brain, an early study reports. Its scientists suggest this gut-brain axisĀ may open new avenues to treatment. “These findings provide a clear understanding of how…
May 17, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Viral Infection Promotes Factor in T-cells Leading to Brain Tissue Destruction Infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus triggers expression of a factor called TOX in immune cells strengthening their migration into the brain and promoting damaging effects, including inflammation and tissue destruction. These findings represent a new piece of the puzzle about the mechanism underlying autoimmune diseases Ā like multiple sclerosis (MS).
May 14, 2018 News by Jose Marques Lopes, PhD B-Cell Changes May Predict Conversion from Clinically Isolated Syndrome to MS, Study Suggests B-cell alterations in peripheral blood may predict the conversion of clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) to multiple sclerosis (MS), a recent study suggests. Conducted in Turkey, the study, āPeripheral blood memory B cell frequency predicts conversion from clinically isolated syndrome to multiple sclerosis,ā was published in…
May 9, 2018 News by Jose Marques Lopes, PhD Subtle Myelin Damage May Occur Before Inflammatory Reactions in MS, Study Suggests Subtle changes in myelin, the protective layer of nerve fibers, may be an early event in multiple sclerosis (MS) prior to the inflammatory reaction, a new University of CalgaryĀ study shows. The study, āBiochemically altered myelin triggers autoimmune demyelination,ā was published in the journal Proceedings…
May 8, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD New Class of Anti-inflammatory Compounds May Help Halt Inflammation in MS, Study Suggests A new class of indoline derivativesĀ shows potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activitiesĀ capable of decreasing inflammation in the brain, new research shows. This finding highlights the potential of the new compounds in chronic inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The study āSynthesis and Biological Evaluation of Derivatives of Indoline as…
April 24, 2018 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Compound Produced by Immune Cells May Hold Promise for Multiple Sclerosis A compound produced by immune cells is able to treat psoriasis ā a skin disorder ā in mice, and may be effective against other autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, according to a recent study. The study, āElectrophilic properties of itaconate and derivatives regulate the IĪŗBĪ¶āATF3 inflammatory…
March 21, 2018 News by Patricia Silva, PhD American Brain Foundation Starts Crowdfunding Campaign to Help Fight MS The American Brain FoundationĀ has started a crowdfunding campaignĀ to support research that could lead to treatments forĀ multiple sclerosisĀ and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Foundation officials said the fundsĀ will help facilitate the work of Steffen Jung, head of the immunology department at the Weizmann Institute of ScienceĀ in Israel.
March 13, 2018 News by Jose Marques Lopes, PhD High Levels of Protein Can Disrupt Blood-Brain Barrier in MS, Study Finds High levels of a protein called calnexin in the brain may disrupt the blood-brain barrier of patients with multiple sclerosis, a Canadian study suggests. The finding could lead to new treatment strategies to prevent brain damage in MS. The research, āCalnexin is necessary for T cell…
February 27, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Transforming Skin Cells Into Nerve Stem Cells Could Be a Way to Treat MS, Study Suggests Reprogramming skin cells into brain stem cells, then transplanting them into the central nervous system may reduce inflammation and reverse the nerve cell damage in progressive multiple sclerosis, a mouse study shows. Scientists have dubbed macrophages the immune system's big eaters because they engulf abnormal cells like cancer in addition to invaders like viruses and bacteria. Special classes of macrophages live in a number of organs, including the brain and spinal cord, where theyāre called microglia. Although they protect the body, microglia can participate in the development of progressive forms of MS by attacking the central nervous system, causing nerve cell damage. MS is an autoimmune disease, or one in which the immune system can attack healthy tissue besides invaders. Recent studies have suggested that neural stem cells, which have the capacity to differentiate into any type of nerve cell, can regulate immune response and inflammation in the central nervous system. At one point, researchers obtained neural stem cells from embryos. But this technique generated only a fraction of the cells needed for treatments. Meanwhile, doctors have tried to avoid collecting stem cellsĀ from someone with a different genetic profile than the patient because this increases the risk that the immune system will attack them once they're transplanted. University of CambridgeĀ scientists decided to try reprogramming skin cells into neural stem cells. The idea behind the mouse study was that using skin cells from the same person who will receive the stem cells will reduce the chance that the immune system will attack the stem cells. In the mouse study, the team discovered a link between higher than normal levels of a small metabolite, calledĀ succinate, and chronic MS. The metabolite prompts macrophages and microglia to generate inflammation in the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord. Transplanting neural stem cells and progenitors of these stem cells into the cerebrospinal fluid of mice improved the animals' chronic nerve cell inflammation. The stem cells reduced the animals' succinate levels and switched their macrophages and microglia from a pro- to an anti-inflammatory state. This led to a decrease in inflammation and less damage to the central nervous system. āOur mouse study suggests that using a patientās reprogrammed cells could provide a route to personalized treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, including progressive forms of MS,ā Stefano Pluchino, a principal researcher in Cambridge's Department of Clinical Neurosciences, said in a press release. āThis is particularly promising as these cells should be more readily obtainable than conventional neural stem cells and would not carry the risk of an adverse immune response,ā said Pluchino, the study's lead author. Luca Peruzzotti-Jametti, aĀ Wellcome TrustĀ research training fellow, said the discovery would not have been possible without aĀ multidisciplinary collaboration.Ā āWe made this discovery by bringing together researchers from diverse fields, including regenerative medicine, cancer, mitochondrial biology, inflammation and stroke, and cellular reprogramming."
February 26, 2018 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc Oxygen Sensor Protein Can Regulate B-Cell Anti-inflammatory Response in MS, Study Shows Oxygen sensor proteins can regulate immune B-cell activity, preventing inflammation in autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, a study reports. The research, titled āHypoxia-inducible factor-1Ī± is a critical transcription factor for IL-10-producing B cells in autoimmune disease,ā was published inĀ Nature Communications.Ā An autoimmune disease is one in…
February 23, 2018 News by Ana Pena PhD Pilot Study Is Testing Whether Mediterranean Diet Can Help MS Patients New York researchers are doing a pilot study of whether a Mediterranean diet can reduce multiple sclerosis symptoms and improve patients’ quality of life.Ā Dr. Ilana B. Katz Sand, an assistant professor of neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai,Ā is leading…
February 20, 2018 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc Low-dose Naltrexone Changes Levels of Inflammatory Proteins in MS, Study Shows Inhibition of the neuroactiveĀ opioid growth factor (OGF) alters the blood levels of important pro- and anti-inflammatory proteins in mice with multiple sclerosis (MS)-like disease. The recognition of this regulatory response may represent a new way to monitor disease progression and treatment response in MS. These findings were reported in a study published in the journalĀ Experimental Biology and Medicine, titled āModulation of the OGFāOGFr pathway alters cytokine profiles in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis.ā The study was led byĀ researchers at Penn State University. Understanding the underlying mechanisms involved in MS and finding ways to tackle them is crucial for improving early diagnosis, monitoring disease progression, and patient care. For many years, researchersĀ atĀ Penn StateĀ have been focused on understanding the benefits of low-dose naltrexone and its relation with OGF in health and disease, including MS. Naltrexone is marketed with the brand name ReVia, among others. This drug is used routinely off-label to treat MS and other autoimmune diseases, as it has demonstrated toĀ it can reduce fatigue, lessen pain, and confer a general feeling of well-being to patients. Its mode of action is not fully understood, but it is known to block the interaction of the neuroactive OGF with its receptor OGFr. In addition, low-dose naltrexone and OGF were shown to prevent the proliferation of active immune cells in mice with MS-like disease. To further evaluate the role of OGF and low-dose naltrexone in MS, researchers treated mice with naltrexone and analyzed its impact on blood levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory signaling proteins (cytokines). Results showed that after 10 days, MS mice had increased levels in seven out of 10 tested cytokines. Treatment with OGF or low-dose naltrexone was found to specifically increase the levels of the pro-inflammatory IL-6 cytokine, and significantly reduce the levels of anti-inflammatory IL-10 protein. Two other pro-inflammatory proteins, TNF-Ī± and IFN-Ī³, also were found to be increased in MS mice compared to healthy animals. While TNF-Ī± levels were unaltered upon OGF or low-dose naltrexone treatment, IFN-Ī³ was reduced at 10 days, but still present at higher-than-normal levels after 20 days of therapy. To validate its findings, the team analyzed the levels of the identified signaling proteins in blood samples collected from 14 MS patients and eight non-MS volunteers. Six MS patients were undergoing treatment with Copaxone (glatiramer acetate), and four of them had relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). Four other RRMS patients and one primary progressive MS (PPMS) patient were receiving Copaxone plus low-dose naltrexone; three RRMS patients were receiving low-dose naltrexone alone. The analysis revealed that IL-10 serum values were comparable between non-MS controls and all MS patients on low-dose naltrexone alone, or Copaxone alone. Patients treated with both Copaxone and naltrexone presented a broad range of IL-10 serum values āthat were significantly different from MS subjects receiving LDN [low-dose naltrexone] only,ā the researchers wrote. In contrast, IL-6 cytokine was found to be significantly elevated in MS patients treated only with Copaxone compared to patients receiving low-dose naltrexone alone or together with Copaxone. āThese data suggest that IL-6, a pro-inflammatory marker is very responsive to OGF and LDN therapy, and thus may be involved in other mechanistic pathways associated with the OGF-OGFr axis,ā the researchers wrote. "Identification of inflammatory cytokines that have expression profiles mediated by OGF or LDN [low-dose naltrexone] therapy increase our panel of potential biomarkers for MS,ā Patricia McLaughlin, PhD, said in a press release. McLaughlin is professor of neural and behavioral sciences at Penn State, and senior author of the study. āWe hope that continued research will identify more specific cytokines and allow us to assemble a reliable panel of minimally invasive biomarkers related to the etiology and progression of MS," she added. Additional long-term human and mouse studies are needed to further evaluate if IL-6 and IL-10 are āappropriate markers to monitor progression of MS,ā the researchers emphasized. Still, the team believes this study demonstrates that at least IL-6, IL-10, TNF-Ī±, and IFN-Ī³, together with OGF, can be useful biomarkers to monitor MS. "McLaughlin and colleagues have researched OGF signaling for several decades, and this seminal discovery of dysregulation in OGF expression in MS patients, and animal models, is very exciting and could lead to prognostic biomarkers for this autoimmune disorder," concluded Steven R. Goodman, PhD, editor-in-chief of the journal in which the study was published.
February 12, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Australian Researchers Identify Master Regulator of the Faulty Inflammation Signaling in MS Australian researchers have identified the master regulator of the immune response signaling pathway that is out of sync in multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory diseases. The lynchpin in the process is theĀ xIAP protein, the team said. Their discovery that it triggers the NOD2 pathway’s faulty inflammation signaling could lead to…
February 1, 2018 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc Researchers Identify Testosterone-triggered Molecule that Protects Men from MS A molecule triggered by the male hormone testosterone protects male mice from developing multiple sclerosis, Northwestern Medicine researchers report. Their discovery may help explain why MS affects more women than men. It could also lead to targeted therapies to protect women against the disease. The study, ā…
January 22, 2018 News by Iqra Mumal, MSc Scientists Determine Structure of Major Cytokine Involved in MS Inflammation A global collaboration of researchers led by Belgium’s Flanders Institute for Biotechnology has determined the structure of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-23 and its receptor IL-23R, which could be potential targets for treating multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases. Their study, āStructural Activation of Pro-inflammatory Human Cytokine…
January 18, 2018 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Measuring Blood Clotting Factor Could Pinpoint RRMS Patients at Risk for Heart Disease Thrombin, a blood clotting factor, may be involved in the inflammatory processes of multiple sclerosis patients, Ā particularly those with relapsing-remitting form of the disease (RRMS), a study found. Higher levels of thrombin may also explain the increased risk of cardiovascular disease linked to MS. By measuring thrombin levels, it may…
January 15, 2018 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Probiotics Increase Punch of Treatments That Decrease Inflammation in MS, Study Shows Probiotics increased the punch of treatments that decrease the inflammation associated with multiple sclerosis, a study found. Using the supplements to add helpful bacteria to the gut may be a way to improve patients’ Ā outcomes, researchers added. The team from Harvard University-affiliated Brigham and Womenās Hospital did not…
January 9, 2018 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Cholesterol Buildup Limits Regeneration of Nerve-cell-protecting Sheath, Study Shows The nerve-cell-protecting myelin sheath’s failure to remove cholesterol after the membrane has been damaged limits its ability to regenerate, German researchers report. Their finding has important implications for multiple sclerosis because a hallmark of the disease is nerve cell deterioration stemming from damaged myelin. Cholesterol is a waxy, fatty substance…
December 14, 2017 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Body’s Biological Clock and Time of Day Affects Immune Cells, Mouse Study Shows Researchers further explored how our internal biological clock ā known as circadian rhythm ā influences immune system responses.Ā Disruptions to that rhythm are associated with immune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), although in waysĀ not fully understood and, the study suggests, may affect response to treatment. A natural 24-hour cycle that exists…
November 27, 2017 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Vegetable-rich Diet Promotes Bacteria That Fights Inflammation in MS, Study Shows A diet rich in vegetables and low in protein reduced inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients by modulating the gut microbiome and promoting bacteria that helps control a hyper-reactive immune system. The study reporting the findings, āImmunological and Clinical Effect of Diet Modulation of the Gut…
November 8, 2017 News by Iqra Mumal, MSc Blocking CXCR7 Receptor of Mature Monocytes Could Be New Therapeutic Strategy in MS The CXCR7 receptor present on mature monocytes ā a type of white blood cell ā may be a therapeutic target to alleviate the inflammation seen inĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) and similar disorders, a new study shows. The study, āFrontline Science: CXCR7 mediates CD14+CD16+ monocyte transmigration across the blood…
October 31, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #MSParis2017 – T-cell vs. B-cell Debate More Meeting of Minds Than ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ News commentary One particular session on Day 2 of the four-day 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting ā which drew 10,000 researchers, doctors, industry representatives, and patient advocates to hear about advances in multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment and understanding ā attracted so much interest that all seats were taken in the…