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…
treatment
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.
In a new study, researchers at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) uncovered the molecular mechanisms behind the perceived clinical efficacy of a specific drug type, sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1PR1) agonists, to diminish the harmful immune response that leads to autoimmunity in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other diseases, while still preserving the immune system’s…
Clinical trials suggest that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), a common treatment for bone marrow and blood cancers, could also help people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The technique involves harvesting new, undeveloped blood or bone marrow (hematopoietic) cells, typically from the person affected with the disease (autologous). The goal is to…
EMD Serono, the North American biopharmaceutical business arm of Merck, announced it has gained exclusive rights over Rebif (interferon beta-1a) in the United States. Rebif is a treatment for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Rebif, an approved drug, is used to decrease the frequency of MS relapses and delay the occurrence of…
A recent BBC Panorama program titled “Can you stop my Multiple Sclerosis?” featured a ground-breaking treatment for select patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) that has been developed at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals in the United Kingdom. The program tells the stories of four patients, each with a diagnosis of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), who underwent the…
A study from the University of Technology Dresden, in Germany, reported on attitudes toward the adoption of electronic health (eHealth) solutions among clinicians in neurological practices, and their opinions on the those systems’ requirements and potential benefits in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, “Designing an…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a one-day public hearing on four recent draft guidelines regarding the regulation of human cells, tissues, or cellular or tissue-based products (HCT/Ps). Critics of the proposed regulations warn that they curtail the medical use of autologous cell therapy and biologics, and their future potential…
The Tisch MS Research Center of New York (Tisch MSRCNY) recently announced that its stem cell-based therapy as a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) will move into Phase 2 clinical testing after encouraging results in a Phase 1 trial, and on the advice of the U.S. Food and Drug…
Recently, Biogen released results from its Phase 2 acute optic neuritis (AON) RENEW trial which tested Anti-LINGO-1. Learn more about this results here. So what is Anti-LINGO-1? According to the MS Society, Anti-LINGO-1 (also known as BIIB033) is a treatment in development by the pharmaceutical company Biogen which is currently…
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada recently published a report documenting and summarizing the most important developments in multiple sclerosis (MS) research during 2015. In early 2015, a Society-funded clinical trial was initiated to study the potential abilities of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to treat MS. The MEsenchymal Stem cell therapy…
A new study from The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, found that the inflammatory molecule CXCL12 promotes neuronal repair during spontaneous remission in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of human multiple sclerosis (MS). The chemokine CXCL12 was previously thought to be a pro-inflammatory molecule only. But recent findings have shown…