Essentially all research that may help us learn how to stop disease activity ultimately requires a better understanding of the role that the immune system plays in MS. This system is involved both in the inflammatory attacks on myelin and, very possibly, in the axonal injury that appears to contribute to longer-term disability. This includes studies on
- components of the immune system such as T cells, B cells, and antibodies
- understanding why women are affected by MS more than twice as often as men
- determining whether differences in disease pattern hold a key to better therapies
- identification of new targets for therapeutic intervention; and the identification of substances that are involved in producing axonal injury.
We especially need to know more about the molecules that the immune system uses to attack the nervous system, because each of these serves as a potential therapeutic target for new therapies, with the aim of treating the disease while leaving the rest of the immune system capable of fighting infections. Researchers are also identifying the body’s natural immune messenger molecules that dampen abnormal immune activity and that may therefore be used as therapies, as well as developing “decoys” to waylay attacking immune cells.
We’re making progress – for example:
- Deeper understanding of destructive and protective immune factors is opening up new opportunities for targeting specific sites along the immune attack pathway to turn off the attack or to protect brain tissues.
- There is a new understanding of the role of immune B cells, and at least one experimental therapy (rituxumab) that targets them
- Trials of oral therapies are underway
- Attempts are being made to block only immune cells that recognize myelin, leaving the rest of the protective immune system intact.
A few examples of the immunology studies recently funded by the National MS Society:
- Researchers funded in part by the National MS Society have demonstrated that lisinopril – a drug commonly used to lower blood pressure – reversed symptoms in mice with MS-like disease, and stimulated the production of a type of immune cell that is thought to be capable of turning off MS immune attacks. Read more about this study.
- Researchers funded in part by the National MS Society reported that metformin, an oral drug used to treat diabetes, improved MS-like disease in mice. Read more about this study.
- The possibility of multiple causes of MS is the focus of the path-breaking international collaboration known as The MS Lesion Project, funded through the Society’s Promise: 2010 Initiative.
- Microglia are unique immune cells; they actually live in the brain. For some time, researchers have studied how these cells welcome the immune attack on the brain and spinal cord of people with MS, and even spur it on. But microglia might have another face to show—one that actually protects nerve cells. National MS Society grantees are teasing out the roles of these two-faced cells. Read more about these efforts. (PDF)
MS Trial Alert: Investigators Recruiting for Study Comparing Exercise Programs to Improve Depression
Feb 08, 2012
Summary: Investigators at the University of Washington, Seattle, are recruiting 108 people with all types of MS or spinal cord injury nationwide for a study comparing the effects on depression of two telephone-coordinated exercise programs. The study, also called the inMotion study, is funded by the National Institutes on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.
MS Trial Alert: Pain Study Recruiting People with MS Nationwide
Feb 07, 2012
Summary: Investigators nationwide are recruiting 400 people with secondary-progressive MS or relapsing-remitting MS to compare the effectiveness of three doses of the oral drug AVP-923 (Nuedexta®, dextromethorphan hydrobromide and quinidine sulfate, Avanir Pharmaceuticals) or inactive placebo in reducing central neuropathic pain. The study is funded by Avanir Pharmaceuticals.
Research Teams Report on 18 Months of Progress from MS Societies’ Initial Studies on CCSVI and MS
Jan 27, 2012
Reports from 7 multi-disciplinary teams investigating CCSVI in MS indicate that they are making good progress toward providing essential data and critical analysis as these two-year projects move toward their completion. The studies were launched on July 1, 2010 with a more than $ 2.4 million commitment from the MS Society of Canada and the National MS Society (USA).