About 62% of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients use disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) before and during pregnancy, and the medications don’t appear to harm their health or their babies’ health, recently reported data from an international registry show. Most pregnancies resulted in live, full-term births, and these births generally occurred…
research
Experts are calling for tailored strategies to enhance the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of older people with multiple sclerosis (MS). As people with MS live longer, age-related biological changes increasingly complicate diagnosing and managing the disease in older adults. No universal framework currently guides how to address these unique…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new analysis of genetic data. The findings indicate genetic changes that influence the activity of immune T-cells may play a role in both MS and Alzheimer’s. The study, “Multiple sclerosis…
A&W Canada’s annual Burgers to Beat MS Day is returning for its 17th year to raise funds for MS Canada and its efforts to improve the lives of people affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). As part of the fundraiser, A&W will donate CA$2 (about $1.45) to MS…
Fumarate-based therapies like Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) and Vumerity (diroximel fumarate) are equally effective among Black, Hispanic, Asian, and white adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the U.S., the largest real-world study of its kind shows. “The findings of this study suggest that fumarate medicines…
Fenebrutinib significantly reduced the occurrence of new brain lesions with active inflammation in people with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), a Phase 2 clinical trial found. In the open-label extension portion of the FENopta trial (NCT05119569), disease activity “remained very low” for nearly one year, researchers wrote, with 98%…
A common virus that causes cold sores, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), may contribute to multiple sclerosis (MS). That’s according to a study by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). In mice lacking a protein that helps control HSV-1, infection led to the degradation of the…
Regular exercise that follows established guidelines for physical activity in multiple sclerosis (MS) leads to clinically meaningful gains in depression and supports its use as a nonpharmacological treatment for people with MS, a meta-analysis of 12 studies suggests. The meta-analysis, “Effects of meeting exercise guidelines on depression and…
A person’s total number of visits to multiple sclerosis (MS) clinics is not associated with a lower risk of death, suggesting that merely increasing the number of clinical follow-up visits is not enough to improve survival, a new study in Denmark found. Instead, factors such as being female, having…
Researchers have developed a blood test to identify people at risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) years before the first symptoms appear. The test, described in a recent study, looks for antibodies against a protein of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is a leading risk factor for MS.
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) visited doctors, were admitted to the hospital, and used emergency care more often than other people more than two decades before their diagnosis, a large study finds. The use of these services peaked in the year before a diagnosis, but visits to a primary…
Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy is safe and well tolerated, and leads to improvements in disability and a reduction in lesion burden in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a review of published studies. MSC treatments also reduced levels of biomarkers associated with nerve damage and inflammation,…
Vibration therapy, which provides mechanical stimulation to activate muscles and sensory receptors, may offer a promising new approach for easing fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to new data from a clinical trial. Patients who received vibration therapy reported reduced perceived fatigue and also showed significant gains…
Blood levels of a protein called GFAP, which reflects the activation and damage to support cells in the brain and spinal cord, may help predict disease severity and the response to treatment with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new analysis of clinical trial data. “This…
Treatment with neural stem cells, which have the ability to differentiate into neurons and other supportive cells of the nervous system, was safe and significantly boosted myelin repair in spinal cord lesions in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), a study showed. The stem cells were able to…
The rates of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who advance from a relapsing disease course to a secondary progressive one have decreased significantly in the past decades, a 30-year study in Italy shows. While the greater availability and earlier use of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) have played a role,…
Quantum Biopharma filed a U.K. innovation passport application to streamline the development and review of Lucid-21-302 (Lucid-MS), a therapy designed to promote myelin repair in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The submission, made via Quantum’s Australian subsidiary, Huge Biopharma Australia, marks the first step to entering the U.K.’s Innovative…
Nearly two-thirds of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who underwent a stem cell transplant showed no signs of confirmed disability progression five years later, according to a study tracking MS patients in the U.K. The results were generally better for people with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), but nearly half…
A team of U.S. and Chinese researchers appears to have unlocked a novel way to stop T-cells from attacking the body in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases, according to the findings of a new study. An experimental therapy called BiTS, developed based on these new molecular insights,…
Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden said they have identified 18 new potential protein drug targets to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) using an integrative analytical approach. A drug target is a molecule, typically a protein, within the body that’s often involved in disease processes. Some of the newly…
Following the MIND diet plan, rich in leafy greens, whole grains, legumes, nuts, berries, and lean meats, may help strengthen the body’s antioxidant defenses in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study found. The Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet combines the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes those…
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a significantly greater risk of developing dementia compared with the general population, according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis. Of nearly 38,000 MS patients assessed across 10 published studies, about 5% had a diagnosis of dementia. The prevalence was particularly high in…
Anti-CD20 therapies, a type of treatment approved for multiple sclerosis (MS), alter the activity of several types of immune cells, including increasing the levels of certain anti-inflammatory immune cells. That’s according to the study “Transcriptomic profiling after B cell depletion reveals central and peripheral immune cell…
Scientists have made significant advances in treating multiple sclerosis (MS) in recent decades, with a number of treatments for the neurodegenerative disease approved or in development. But one issue that’s been more challenging to address, researchers say, is MS quiet progression — when there aren’t new visible lesions…
In healthy adults, a single low dose of Immutep’s immunosuppressive candidate IMP761 continues to be safe and appears to reduce the activity of T-cells — immune cells that become overactive in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases. This is according to data from an ongoing Phase…
Two of three groups — one composed of people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), and the other comprising healthy volunteers — have been fully enrolled in a Phase 1b clinical trial that’s testing a new anti-inflammatory drug being developed by Contineum Therapeutics. The Phase 1b…
Older men with multiple sclerosis (MS) who use medicines that reduce the levels of androgens, or male sex hormones, experience sustained or increased disease activity instead of the expected decreases that typically happen with advancing age, a small study suggests. According to the team, such disease activity was “particularly”…
A new imaging technology may help detect early signs of brain damage in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) that aren’t visible on conventional MRI scans, a recent study shows. The technology detects specific metabolic alterations in the brain by tracking certain metabolites and neurotransmitters — molecules that nerve…
Mitochondrial abnormalities, or problems in the powerhouses of cells, seem to be a main contributor to the death of important nerve cells in the cerebellum — a brain region involved in motor control — in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study suggests. Researchers found that inflammation and…
A CAR T-cell therapy from Iaso Biotherapeutics was tolerated well and led to marked improvements in disability for three people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to early data from a Phase 1 clinical trial. After a single dose of equecabtagene autoleucel, patients saw rapid and…