Links for Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis

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By Helen Branswell, What many hope will be the final chapter in an unfortunate saga in multiple sclerosis research appears to have been written by the scientist who started the affair in the first place. Italian physician Paolo Zamboni has publicly acknowledged that a therapy he developed and dubbed “the liberation treatment” does not cure or mitigate the symptoms of MS. A randomized controlled trial—the gold standard of medical research—he and other Italian researchers conducted concluded the procedure is a “largely ineffective technique” that should not be recommended for MS patients. The trial’s result comes as no surprise to neurologists, most of whom felt Zamboni’s theory lacked plausibility from the moment news of it exploded through the MS community in 2009. Advertisement Many of those same neurologists, though, saw their relationships with their patients fractured as belief in the liberation therapy took hold in the community of patients and their families in Canada, parts of the United States, and farther afield. Doctors advising caution against a procedure that hadn’t been proved to work or even to be safe were derided as standing in the way of innovation to protect their own practices. Dr. Jock Murray, an MS expert and retired professor from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said the history of MS is laden with incidences like the Zamboni episode—though he said this one lasted longer than most. © 2017 Scientific American,

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 24378 - Posted: 11.30.2017

By Giorgia Guglielmi The trillions of bacteria that live in our intestines, known collectively as the gut microbiome, have been linked to maladies from eye disease to rheumatoid arthritis. Now, two new studies have added another disease: multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disorder that strips away nerve cells’ protective covers, leading to muscle weakness, blindness, and even death. What’s more, the studies suggest how our gut microbes make the immune system turn against nerve cells—a finding that could lead to treatments, like drugs based on microbial byproducts, that might improve the course of the disease. MS affects 2.5 million people worldwide, but little is known about what causes the disease, which progressively disrupts information flow from and within the brain. Most researchers think it starts when genetically predisposed people encounter an as-yet-unknown environmental trigger. Previous studies have identified particular bacteria present in increased amounts in the guts of MS patients. But the new papers “took it to the next level” in trying to understand how these bacteria affect the immune system, says Francisco Quintana, a neuroimmunologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston not involved with the work. “These are going to be landmark studies.” In the first paper, a team of researchers led by Sergio Baranzini, a human geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco, analyzed the microbiomes of 71 people with MS and 71 healthy individuals, aged 19 to 71. They found that two bacterial groups, Acinetobacter and Akkermansia, were four times more abundant in MS patients than in individuals with no disease. Another group, Parabacteroides, was four times as abundant in healthy people. © 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Science

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 13: Homeostasis: Active Regulation of the Internal Environment
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 9: Homeostasis: Active Regulation of the Internal Environment
Link ID: 24059 - Posted: 09.13.2017

Brandie Jefferson It wasn't long ago that there were no treatments for multiple sclerosis. In the 1970s, some doctors used chemotherapy to treat the degenerative neurological disease. Since then, more than a dozen drugs have been developed or approved, including infusions, oral medications and self-administered shots. None of these are a magic bullet for a disease that can be disabling and deadly. But now there is a new drug, Ocrevus, that looks like a game-changer. It uses a novel approach to blocking the inflammation that drives the disease and looks as if it's spectacularly effective. It also costs $65,000 a year. I have MS. Should I take Ocrevus? That, I discovered, is not a simple question to answer. But because I'm an MS patient and a science journalist, I was determined to try to figure it out. In March, the FDA approved Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, the most common form of the disease. People with RRMS tend to have flare-ups when their symptoms worsen, followed by periods of remission and, in some cases, a full or partial recovery. In two clinical trials sponsored by the drug's eventual manufacturer, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, RRMS patients who were given ocrelizumab had about 50 percent fewer relapses and up to 95 percent fewer new lesions on the brain and spinal cord than those who were given Rebif, a common therapy. MS is an autoimmune disease, meaning the body attacks itself. The body's nerve endings and the fatty tissue that coats them, called myelin, bear the brunt of the immune system's attacks. As a result, the central nervous system has difficulty communicating with the nerves, leading to a disease that manifests itself in different ways, such as pain, fatigue, disability and slurred speech. © 2017 npr

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 23838 - Posted: 07.15.2017

By KATIE THOMAS The Food and Drug Administration approved on Tuesday the first drug to treat a severe form of multiple sclerosis, offering hope to patients who previously had no other options to combat a relentless disease that leads to paralysis and cognitive decline. The federal agency also cleared the drug to treat people with the more common, relapsing form of the disease. “I think that this is a very big deal,” said Dr. Stephen Hauser, the chairman of the neurology department at the University of California, San Francisco, and leader of the steering committee that oversaw the late-stage clinical trials of the drug, ocrelizumab. “The magnitude of the benefits that we’ve seen with ocrelizumab in all forms of M.S. are really quite stunning.” The drug, which will be sold under the brand name Ocrevus by Genentech, showed the most notable results in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis, appearing to halt progression of the disease with few serious side effects. In patients with the more severe form, primary progressive multiple sclerosis, the drug only modestly slowed patients’ decline, but medical experts described it as an important first step. “This sort of opens the door for us,” said Dr. Fred D. Lublin, who was a crucial investigator for the clinical trial and is director of the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “Once we open that door, then we do better and better and better. It’s a very encouraging result.” Genentech, which is owned by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, said Tuesday that it would charge a list price of $65,000 a year, which — though expensive — is 25 percent less than an existing drug, Rebif, that was shown to be clinically inferior to Ocrevus in the two clinical trials that led to Ocrevus’s approval. © 2017 The New York Times Company

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 23421 - Posted: 03.29.2017

By Michelle Roberts A multiple sclerosis treatment being tested in patients can stop the disease for at least five years, say doctors. The risky therapy involves wiping out the person's immune system with strong cancer drugs and then rebooting it with a stem cell transplant. Doctors say only some patients will be suitable to try it, particularly because it is so high risk. Out of 281 people who had the treatment, nearly half benefited, but eight died shortly afterwards. The work in JAMA Neurology is one of the largest and longest investigations of this aggressive MS treatment. Mark Rye, 41 and from Surrey, had his transplant just before Christmas 2016. Two months on he is doing well. "It was a hard decision, knowing what could go wrong. My wife and I discussed it for many, many hours. We've got small children and I didn't want my MS to get worse and end up in a wheelchair. "I did this to halt the condition and so that I can be there for my children, who are still so young. I want to be able to play rugby and football with them as they grow up." What is not clear is for how long the therapy might ultimately work. Freeze frame MS is not fatal, but it is incurable. The disease causes the immune system to attack the protective coating of nerves in the brain and spinal cord, which can create problems with a person's vision, walking and balance. © 2017 BBC

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 23263 - Posted: 02.21.2017

New clinical trial results provide evidence that high-dose immunosuppressive therapy followed by transplantation of a person's own blood-forming stem cells can induce sustained remission of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system. Five years after receiving the treatment, called high-dose immunosuppressive therapy and autologous hematopoietic cell transplant (HDIT/HCT), 69 percent of trial participants had survived without experiencing progression of disability, relapse of MS symptoms or new brain lesions. Notably, participants did not take any MS medications after receiving HDIT/HCT. Other studies have indicated that currently available MS drugs have lower success rates. The trial, called HALT-MS, was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and conducted by the NIAID-funded Immune Tolerance Network (link is external) (ITN). The researchers published three-year results from the study in December 2014, and the final five-year results appear online Feb. 1 in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “These extended findings suggest that one-time treatment with HDIT/HCT may be substantially more effective than long-term treatment with the best available medications for people with a certain type of MS,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “These encouraging results support the development of a large, randomized trial to directly compare HDIT/HCT to standard of care for this often-debilitating disease.”

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 7: Life-Span Development of the Brain and Behavior
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 4: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 23177 - Posted: 02.02.2017

Thorsten Rudroff An estimated 400,000 Americans are currently living with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune cells attack a fatty substance called myelin in the nerves. Common symptoms are gait and balance disorders, cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, pain and muscle spasticity. Colorado has the highest proportion of people living with MS in the United States. It is estimated that one in 550 people living in the state has MS, compared to one in 750 nationally. The reason for this is unknown, but could be related to several factors, such as vitamin D deficiency or environment. Currently available therapies do not sufficiently relieve MS symptoms. As a result many people with the condition are trying alternative therapies, like cannabis. Based on several studies, the American Association of Neurology states that there is strong evidence that cannabis is effective for treatment of pain and spasticity. Although there are many anecdotal reports indicating cannabis’ beneficial effects for treatment of MS symptoms such as fatigue, muscle weakness, anxiety and sleep deprivation, they have not been scientifically verified. This is because clinical trials – where patients are given cannabis – are difficult to do because of how the substance is regulated at the federal level. To learn more, my Integrative Neurophysiology Laboratory at Colorado State University is studying people with MS in the state who are already using medical cannabis as a treatment to investigate what MS symptoms the drug can effectively treat. © 2010–2017, The Conversation US, Inc.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 4: The Chemistry of Behavior: Neurotransmitters and Neuropharmacology
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 3: The Chemistry of Behavior: Neurotransmitters and Neuropharmacology
Link ID: 23119 - Posted: 01.18.2017

Brandie Jefferson When I told my coworker that I was participating in a study that involved fasting, she laughed until she nearly cried. My boyfriend, ever supportive, asked hesitantly, "Are you sure you want to try this?" Note the use of "try" instead of "do." When I told my father over the phone, the line went silent for a moment. Then he let out a long, "Welllllll," wished me luck, and chuckled. Turns out, luck might not be enough. I like to eat. Often and a lot. Now, however, my eating habits have become more than a source of amusement for friends and coworkers. Now they are data in a study focusing on people with multiple sclerosis, like me. The pilot study, led by Dr. Ellen Mowry at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is looking at the impact of intermittent fasting on our microbiomes — the universe of trillions of microbes, mainly bacteria, that live in our guts. Intermittent fasting is pretty much what it sounds like. For six months, participants are allowed to eat during an 8-hour period each day. The remaining 16 hours we are limited to water, tea and coffee. No added sugar, cream, honey or sweetener. Several studies have suggested that the predominant bacteria in the guts of people with MS tend to be different than those in the guts of those without the chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease, according to Samantha Roman, the study's research coordinator. Depending on their makeup, bacteria have the ability to soothe or trigger inflammation, potentially affecting the symptoms of MS and other diseases. Exactly how gut bacteria and inflammation are related, though, is not well understood. © 2017 npr

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 13: Homeostasis: Active Regulation of the Internal Environment
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 9: Homeostasis: Active Regulation of the Internal Environment
Link ID: 23070 - Posted: 01.09.2017

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News website A drug that alters the immune system has been described as "big news" and a "landmark" in treating multiple sclerosis, doctors and charities say. Trials, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest the drug can slow damage to the brain in two forms of MS. Ocrelizumab is the first drug shown to work in the primary progressive form of the disease. The drug is being reviewed for use in the US and Europe. MS is caused by a rogue immune system mistaking part of the brain for a hostile invader and attacking it. It destroys the protective coating that wraps round nerves called the myelin sheath. The sheath also acts like wire insulation to help electrical signals travel down the nerve. Damage to the sheath prevents nerves from working correctly and means messages struggle to get from the brain to the body. This leads to symptoms like having difficulty walking, fatigue and blurred vision. The disease can either just get worse, known as primary progressive MS, or come in waves of disease and recovery, known as relapsing remitting MS. Both are incurable, although there are treatments for the second state. 'Change treatment' Ocrelizumab kills a part of the immune system - called B cells - which are involved in the assault on the myelin sheath. In 732 patients with progressive MS, the percentage of patients that had deteriorated fell from 39% without treatment to 33% with ocrelizumab . Patients taking the drug also scored better on the time needed to walk 25 feet and had less brain loss detected on scans. In 1,656 patients with relapsing remitting, the relapse rate with ocrelizumab was half that of using another drug. © 2016 BBC

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 23013 - Posted: 12.23.2016

BBC journalist Caroline Wyatt has said she is determined to make the most of her life after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). In her first interview since revealing the news last week, Wyatt told the Radio Times: "It is what it is." "I am not angry, and I don't want bitterness to start eating away at me." One of the best known faces of BBC News, Wyatt recently stepped down as the corporation's religious affairs correspondent due to her condition. 'Incredibly blessed' "I feel really sad now because I'm not going to be a correspondent full-time anymore - I physically can't." Wyatt had been struggling with undiagnosed symptoms for 25 years but was only diagnosed with MS last July after she was paralysed down her left side. Wyatt, who was also the BBC's defence correspondent, said she has had moments where she has questioned her own mortality. "Reporting news is often about reporting death, particularly in the places I have been. But it's less terrifying to me to think of being blown up and dying than to think 'gosh, I might decline slowly day by day, losing a little bit of capability every day'." At the moment, she is a bit unsteady on her feet and is struggling with her vision but still says she is "incredibly lucky and incredibly blessed". She is currently on a long summer break but is hoping to return to radio broadcasting later in the year, along with covering the canonisation of Mother Teresa in Rome. In MS the protective layer surrounding nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord - known as myelin - becomes damaged. The immune system mistakenly attacks the myelin, causing scarring or sclerosis. The damaged myelin disrupts the nerve signals - rather like the short circuit caused by a frayed electrical cable. © 2016 BBC.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 22341 - Posted: 06.21.2016

Aggressive chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant can halt the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS), a small study has suggested. The research, published in The Lancet, looked at 24 patients aged between 18 and 50 from three hospitals in Canada. For 23 patients the treatment greatly reduced the onset of the disease, but in one case a person died. An MS Society spokeswoman said this type of treatment does "offer hope" but also comes with "significant risks". Around 100,000 people in the UK have MS, which is an incurable neurological disease. 'No relapses' The condition causes the immune system to attack the lining of nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Most patients are diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. One existing treatment is for the immune system to be suppressed with chemotherapy and then stem cells are introduced to the patient's bloodstream - this procedure is known as an autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). But in this study, Canadian researchers went further - not just suppressing the immune system, but destroying it altogether. It is then rebuilt with stem cells harvested from the patient's own blood which are at such an early stage, they have not developed the flaws that trigger MS. The authors said that among the survivors, over a period of up to 13 years, there were no relapses and no new detectable disease activity. All the patients who took part in the trial had a "poor prognosis" and had previously undergone standard immunosuppressive therapy which had not controlled the MS - which affects around two million people worldwide. © 2016 BBC.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 22314 - Posted: 06.13.2016

By Rita Celli, This is what Jennifer Molson remembers doctors saying to her about the high-stakes procedure she would undergo in 2002 as part of an Ottawa study that has yielded some promising results in multiple sclerosis patients. The 41-year-old Ottawa woman was in a wheelchair before the treatment. She now walks, runs and works full time. "I had no feeling from my chest down. I could barely cut my food," Molson remembers. Molson was diagnosed with MS when she was 21, and within five years she needed full-time care. "It was scary. [The procedure] was my last shot at living." MS is among the most common chronic inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system, affecting an estimated two million people worldwide. New Canadian research led by two Ottawa doctors and published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday suggests the high-risk therapy may stop the disease from progressing. "This is the first treatment to produce this level of disease control or neurological recovery" from MS, said The Lancet in a news release. But The Lancet also highlights the high mortality rate associated with the procedure — one patient out of 24 involved in the clinical trial died from liver failure. "Treatment related risks limit [the therapy's] widespread use," The Lancet concludes. Results 'impressive' Nevertheless, in the journal's accompanying editorial a German doctor calls the results "impressive." ©2016 CBC/Radio-Canada.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 22309 - Posted: 06.11.2016

Scientists say they have found a gene that causes a rare but inherited form of multiple sclerosis. It affects about one in every thousand MS patients and, according to the Canadian researchers, is proof that the disease is passed down generations. Experts have long suspected there's a genetic element to MS, but had thought there would be lots of genes involved, as well as environmental factors. The finding offers hope of targeted screening and therapy, Neuron reports. The University of British Columbia studied the DNA of hundreds of families affected by MS to hunt for a culprit gene. They found it in two sets of families containing several members with a rapidly progressive type of MS. In these families, 70% of the people with the mutation developed the disease. Although other factors may still be important and necessary to trigger the disease process, the gene itself is a substantial causative risk factor that is passed down from parents to their children, say the researchers. The mutation is in a gene called NR1H3, which makes a protein that acts as a switch controlling inflammation. In MS the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the protective layer of myelin that surrounds nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness and other symptoms. Studies in mice show that knocking out the function of the same gene leads to neurological problems and decreased myelin production. © 2016 BBC.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 22278 - Posted: 06.02.2016

Fergus Walsh Medical correspondent UK doctors in Sheffield say patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are showing "remarkable" improvements after receiving a treatment usually used for cancer. About 20 patients have received bone marrow transplants using their own stem cells. Some patients who were paralysed have been able to walk again. Prof Basil Sharrack, of Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital, said: "To have a treatment which can potentially reverse disability is really a major achievement." Around 100,000 people in the UK have MS, an incurable neurological condition. Most patients are diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. The disease causes the immune system to attack the lining of nerves in the brain and spinal cord. The treatment - known as an autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) - aims to destroy the faulty immune system using chemotherapy. It is then rebuilt with stem cells harvested from the patient's own blood. These cells are at such an early stage they've not developed the flaws that trigger MS. Prof John Snowden, consultant haematologist at Royal Hallamshire Hospital, said: "The immune system is being reset or rebooted back to a time point before it caused MS." About 20 MS patients have been treated in Sheffield in the past three years. Prof Snowden added: "It's clear we have made a big impact on patients' lives, which is gratifying." In MS the protective layer surrounding nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord - known as myelin - becomes damaged. The immune system mistakenly attacks the myelin, causing scarring or sclerosis. © 2016 BBC.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 21796 - Posted: 01.18.2016

By Diana Kwon Symptoms come and go in most cases of multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic disease in which the immune system attacks myelin, the nonconductive sheath that surrounds neurons' axons. Yet 10 to 15 percent of cases are progressive rather than relapsing. This more severe version appears later in life and is marked by steadily worsening symptoms. No treatments are currently available, but that might be about to change. In September pharmaceutical company Hoffmann–La Roche announced positive results from three large clinical trials of ocrelizumab, an injectable antibody medication that targets B cells, for both relapsing and progressive MS. They found that the drug was more effective at treating relapsing MS than interferon beta-1a (Rebif), a top-performing drug now used to treat the disease. Even more exciting, it slowed the advance of symptoms in patients with progressive MS for the entire 12-week duration of the study. “The drug has dramatic effects on relapsing MS, and we finally have our foot in the door with the progressive form,” says Stephen Hauser, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who was involved in the trials. The fact that ocrelizumab works on both types of MS is a tantalizing clue for scientists trying to understand the root causes of the disease and figure out why the inflammation of the relapsing form eventually turns into progressive degeneration in some patients. “These results give evidence that the inflammatory and the degenerative components of MS are related,” Hauser says. “The big question now is, If we begin treatment really early, can we protect relapsing patients from developing the progressive problems later on?” © 2015 Scientific American

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 21724 - Posted: 12.27.2015

Laura Sanders Taking a pregnancy hormone staves off multiple sclerosis relapses, a small clinical trial suggests. The results hint at a potential therapy for women who suffer from MS, a debilitating disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the insulation that wraps around nerve cell fibers. A curious observation kicked off this line of research: Pregnancy offers a temporary reprieve for women with MS. Since that discovery, in the 1990s, scientists have been testing whether certain pregnancy hormones might combat MS in women who aren’t pregnant. In addition to a standard MS drug, 164 women with MS received either a placebo or estriol, an estrogen made by the placenta that peaks toward the end of pregnancy. After two years, women who received estriol had an average of 0.25 relapses a year, while women who received the placebo had 0.37 relapses a year, UCLA neurologist Rhonda Voskuhl and colleagues write online November 24 in Lancet Neurology. Researchers don’t know whether estriol would have similar effects in men with MS. The results warrant a larger clinical trial, the authors say. An accompanying commentary in the same issue of Lancet Neurology questions the results, though. MS specialist Annette Langer-Gould of Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, Calif., raises methodological issues and writes that pregnancy comes with a host of changes that could be responsible for protection from MS. © Society for Science & the Public 2000 - 2015.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 5: Hormones and the Brain
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 8: Hormones and Sex
Link ID: 21674 - Posted: 12.03.2015

A new drug for multiple sclerosis can cut relapses by almost 50% more than the current standard treatment, its manufacturer claims, raising the hopes of sufferers of the disease. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche announced the headline results for its drug, ocrelizumab, but has not published the detailed outcome of its trials. The announcement was warmly welcomed by patients, not least because Roche claims the drug also has an impact on a form of the disease, called primary-progressive, which affects 10-15% of people with MS in the UK and for which there are no treatments. Roche claimed it cut disability in those patients by nearly a quarter. “These phase three trial results will provide a great deal of hope for people with primary-progressive MS, who currently don’t have any treatments available that can slow down the worsening of their condition,” said Nick Rijke, the MS Society’s executive director for policy and research. “Finding effective treatments for multiple sclerosis is our number one priority at the MS Society and this is a big moment. The drug was compared in the trials with Rebif, an established drug made by Merck that reduces relapses by about a third. Ocrelizumab – which does not yet have a brand name – was said to cut annual relapses by 46% and 47% compared with Rebif in the two trials. The biggest advantage, however, may be that it is claimed to cause fewer side effects than the established drug. © 2015 Guardian News and Media Limited

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 21490 - Posted: 10.09.2015

by Sarah Schwartz People with multiple sclerosis who got less sun exposure and had higher body mass as young adults developed the disease sooner than those who spent more time in the sun and were a normal weight, a new study finds. In a study of over 1,100 Danish people with MS — a nervous system condition that causes muscle weakness and pain — patients who were overweight at age 20 developed multiple sclerosis an average of 1.5 years sooner than patients of normal weight. And subjects who reported spending time in the sun every summer’s day during adolescence developed the disease 1.8 years later, on average, than patients who got less sun exposure, Danish researchers report online October 7 in Neurology. The results echo earlier work that found a link between adolescent obesity and risk of MS. And sun exposure may increase patients’ levels of vitamin D, which has been shown to protect against the disease, the researchers say. © Society for Science & the Public 2000 - 2015

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 14: Biological Rhythms, Sleep, and Dreaming
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 10: Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Link ID: 21486 - Posted: 10.08.2015

By Diana Kwon Multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses are known to swing with the seasons. Scientists have attributed these fluctuations to the rise and fall of vitamin D production, which is triggered by exposure to seasonal sunlight. Now a new study suggests that melatonin, a hormone that regulates your internal body clock and sleep cycles, could also play a protective role. MS is a disease of the central nervous system in which an abnormal immune response attacks the myelin sheath, or fatty protective layer, around neurons. The resulting degradation slows signaling between the brain and the rest of the body, potentially leading to a wide variety of symptoms that include weakness, vision problems and cognitive changes. The condition may affect as many as 2.3 million people worldwide. The cause of the disease remains unknown, although researchers have started to identify genetic risks and environmental factors, including smoking, viral infections and vitamin D levels in the bloodstream. The latest environmental influence, observed by Mauricio Farez, a neuroscientist at the Raúl Carrea Institute for Neurological Research, and colleagues could involve peak melatonin levels in the body, which occur during the darker months. The researchers assessed a group of 139 multiple sclerosis patients in Buenos Aires and found a 32 percent reduction in the number of relapses in the fall and winter, when people living in the Southern Hemisphere produce more of the hormone, compared with summer and spring. The results are published on the September 10 Cell. © 2015 Scientific American

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 14: Biological Rhythms, Sleep, and Dreaming
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 10: Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Link ID: 21442 - Posted: 09.24.2015

By Sarah Schwartz Darkness and light may help prevent multiple sclerosis or fend off its symptoms. People who genetically produce less vitamin D, a compound normally boosted by sun exposure, have a greater risk of multiple sclerosis, researchers find. But the hormone melatonin, which the body produces in response to darkness, may reduce flare-ups for people who have the disease, another team of scientists reports. The studies may help researchers better understand and treat multiple sclerosis, a disease of the nervous system. It causes symptoms including muscle weakness, pain and vision loss in over 2 million people worldwide. Previous studies linked lower vitamin D levels to higher multiple sclerosis risk, but it was unclear whether this relationship was a coincidence. In work appearing August 25 in PLOS Medicine, scientists examined genetic data from thousands of Europeans and found that three genetic changes known to reduce vitamin D levels were associated with increased multiple sclerosis risk. These findings suggest that individuals with a higher risk of developing the disease, such as immediate family members of multiple sclerosis patients, should take steps to ensure they have sufficient levels of vitamin D, says study coauthor Brent Richards, a genetic epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal. People can raise vitamin D levels to normal by taking an oral supplement. © Society for Science & the Public 2000 - 2015.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 14: Biological Rhythms, Sleep, and Dreaming
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals; Chapter 10: Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Link ID: 21399 - Posted: 09.11.2015