Skip to navigation Skip to content

News

Share

Society-Funded Investigators Find New Information on Immune Cell Activity in MS

September 2, 2020

The team that helped to drive development of MS therapies that target immune B cells – such as Ocrevus® (ocrelizumab, Genentech) – now reports new findings on how these cells might be activated, a finding that could enable a new generation of more targeted B cell therapies. Researchers at the University of California San Francisco, funded by the National MS Society and others, looked at B cells in the blood and spinal fluid in 23 people with early MS prior to treatment. The results showed an abnormal number of activated B cells in the spinal fluid, and yield important information on the genes and proteins instructing the inflammatory activity of these cells.

Further research can reveal more information on these genes and proteins, and whether they can be targeted to develop more specific therapies that only eliminate the “bad” B cells in MS.

Read more on the UCSF website

Read the paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Ocrevus is a registered trademark of Genentech

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis, and there is currently no cure for MS. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are leading to better understanding and moving us closer to a world free of MS. An estimated 1 million people live with MS in the United States. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, and it affects women three times more than men.

Share


© 2023 The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is a tax exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Its Identification Number (EIN) is 13-5661935.