Links for Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis

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PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon Health & Science University researchers have measured genetic changes reflecting a drop in the body's ability to suppress inflammatory cells that attack nerve fibers and promote progression of multiple sclerosis. In a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Neuroscience Research, OHSU scientists, in collaboration with The Immune Response Corp. of Carlsbad, Calif., found that MS patients have lower expression of the FOXP3 gene found in a subset of T-cells that may regulate defense against MS and other autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes and arthritis. They say that when FOXP3 is reduced due to abnormalities in its expression, the suppressive activity of regulatory T-cells, or T-regs, also plummets. "This is an important marker," said Arthur Vandenbark, Ph.D., professor of neurology and molecular microbiology and immunology, OHSU School of Medicine, and senior research career scientist at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. "This is the first publication that links FOXP3 with reduced suppression in MS." But there may be a solution to the FOXP3 loss. NeuroVax, a T-cell receptor peptide vaccine co-discovered by Vandenbark and colleagues at The Immune Response Corp., was shown in a separate study to increase FOXP3 expression levels among MS patients receiving injections of the drug for a year.

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: 7549 - Posted: 06.24.2010

PORTLAND, Ore. – When it comes to her health, Janice Winfield of Portland, Ore., does her research. That's why the stay-at-home mom, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in July 2000, was willing to turn to popular, over-the-counter herbal supplements like ginkgo biloba to deal with memory problems, fatigue and occasional muscle pain. "I'm definitely interested in alternative medicine," said Winfield, 49, whose form of the neurological disease – relapsing-remitting MS – is characterized by frequent symptom flare-ups. Ginkgo "is not only given to someone like me with MS. There's benefit to anyone taking it." Findings by scientists in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine's Department of Neurology and the OHSU MS Center of Oregon appear to back up that claim. A study presented this month at the American Academy of Neurology's 57th Annual Meeting in Miami Beach, Fla., suggests that ginkgo may be effective in improving attention in MS patients with cognitive impairment. Side effects also were minimal. The study's lead author, Jesus Lovera, M.D., a research fellow and instructor in neurology, OHSU School of Medicine, said those receiving ginkgo "performed better on a test that measures a person's ability to pay attention and to sort conflicting information."

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: 7264 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Boston, MA – Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) recently discovered that cigarette smoking may contribute to the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS), suggesting that quitting smoking could limit or delay central nervous system deterioration. This is the first time that a modifiable risk factor for MS progression has been identified, providing a new strategy for patients hoping to control neurological damage from the disease. Study results appear in the March 9, 2005 issue of Brain. Miguel Hernán, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of epidemiology at HSPH, noted that "the findings are interesting because no modifiable risk factors for the progression of MS are known. This was the first prospective study that identified a potential intervention (quitting smoking) for reducing the risk of progression of MS." Analyzing over 2,000 medical records in the General Practice Research Database (GPRD), researchers identified 179 British patients who were originally diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS, a form of the disease in which symptoms fade and recur in unpredictable patterns. Patients who were current or past smokers were 3.6 times as likely as patients who had never smoked to develop secondary progressive MS, a later stage of the disease marked by steady deterioration of the central nervous system. This disease progression also occurred more quickly in patients who were identified as current or past smokers. The study also supported earlier research showing that smoking may increase the risk of initial MS diagnosis. Current and past smokers were 30% more likely to be diagnosed with MS than those who had never smoked.

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: 7228 - Posted: 06.24.2010

St. Paul, Minn. – The popular hypothesis that the hepatitis B vaccine is associated with an increased risk of multiple sclerosis has been scientifically corroborated through a prospective study of patients in the United Kingdom. Results of the study, and a related editorial, are reported in the September 14 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. More than 350 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus. Of these, 65 million will die from cirrhosis or liver cancer – approximately 5,000 per year in the United States. The hepatitis B vaccine, considered one of the safest vaccines ever produced, is more than 95 percent effective in preventing chronic hepatitis B infection, and is the first vaccine against a major human cancer. In 1996, about 200 cases of MS (and other central nervous system demyelinating disorders) following hepatitis B vaccination were reported in France, prompting the French government to suspend routine immunization of pre-adolescents in schools. The potential link between vaccination against hepatitis B and an increased risk of MS has since been evaluated in several studies, with limited success.

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: 6129 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Cannabis may loosen the stiff and spastic muscles of multiple sclerosis sufferers, and not just their minds, a follow-up study has found. The results contradict findings from the first phase of the study, where improvements seemed to be largely due to "good moods". “There does seem to be evidence of some benefit from cannabis in the longer term that we didn’t anticipate in the short term study,” says John Zajicek, at Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, UK, and one of the research team. In 2003, Zajicek and his colleagues published results on the largest study to date of cannabinoids and MS. The trial included 630 advanced-stage MS patients who took either cannabinoid compounds or a placebo for 15 weeks. Compared with those on placebos, patients who received active compounds said they both felt less pain and less muscle spasticity – the spasms characteristic of this neurodegenerative disease. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 4: The Chemistry of Behavior: Neurotransmitters and Neuropharmacology; Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 3: The Chemistry of Behavior: Neurotransmitters and Neuropharmacology; Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 6099 - Posted: 06.24.2010

PORTLAND, Ore. – For years, doctors have suggested the best treatment for multiple sclerosis is pregnancy. Now, an Oregon study is delivering solid evidence to support the theory. Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center have uncovered the mechanism by which estrogen, produced in high volumes during pregnancy, boosts the expression and number of regulatory cells that are key to fighting MS and other autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis and diabetes. The study, published in the "Cutting Edge" section of the current issue of The Journal of Immunology, shows the hormone augments a compartment containing T cells known as CD4+CD25+, and a regulatory protein called FoxP3. The cells are important for protecting mice against a model for human MS called experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Autoimmune disease has been associated with a deficiency of FoxP3, whose expression is a reliable indicator of the regulatory T cells' function and development. "This is the first report that this single, benign compound – estrogen – can increase regulatory cells," said study co-author Halina Offner, Ph.D., professor of neurology, and anesthesiology and peri-operative medicine, OHSU School of Medicine and the Portland VA Medical Center. "When you remove (the CD4+CD25+ cells), animals get autoimmune disease. They're very important to maintaining a healthy state."

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: 6036 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Dr. Luanne Metz, an associate professor of neurosciences and physician-scientist in the Neuroscience Research Group at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine, has found that minocycline, a drug currently used to treat such conditions as acne, decreases the activity of lesions in the brains of people suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). The results of her study are published in the May edition of the Annals of Neurology. The randomized study looks at ten people with active relapsing-remitting MS - characterized by clearly defined attacks (relapses) followed by partial or complete recovery (remissions). It assesses the effect of oral minocycline on people with active lesions in their brains. Each participant was given an MRI at the onset of the study, and then every four weeks after that, to determine whether or not the lesions caused by MS were getting worse or stabilizing. "For reasons that are still unclear, people with MS suffer from immune system malfunctions which trigger attacks of the nerve cells and myelin in the central nervous system,” says Metz, Director of the Calgary Health Region’s world renowned MS Clinic. “Current treatments being used today do not eliminate MS completely – they only lessen the severity and slow progression of the disease. Our new findings are exciting because we discovered that minocycline significantly reduces the activity of the lesions in the brain. These findings offer us the possibility of a new and safe treatment option for people with MS.”

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: 5584 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN – Women who take vitamin D supplements through multivitamins are 40 percent less likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) than women who do not take supplements, according to a study published in the January 13 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Food is a source of vitamin D, and the body makes vitamin D through exposure to sunlight. "Because the number of cases of MS increases the farther you get from the equator, one hypothesis has been that sunlight exposure and high levels of vitamin D may reduce the risk of MS," said study author Kassandra Munger, MSc, of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA. "This is the first prospective study to look at this question. "These results need to be confirmed with additional research, but it's exciting to think that something as simple as taking a multivitamin could reduce your risk of developing MS."

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: 4795 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN – Smokers are nearly twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) as people who have never smoked, according to a study published in the October 28 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The risk was increased for people whether they were smokers at the time they developed MS or were past smokers. "This is one more reason for young people to avoid smoking," said study author Trond Riise, PhD, of the University of Bergen in Norway. "Hopefully, these results will help us learn more about what causes MS by looking at how smoking affects the onset of the disease."

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: 4430 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN – Using MRI scans can help make the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) more quickly, according to a guideline developed by the American Academy of Neurology. The guideline is published in the September 9 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The point at which MS can be diagnosed has been under debate, according to guideline author Elliot Frohman, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. “Before, the criteria used to diagnose people required neurologists to show that disease activity had occurred in the brain over time,” said Frohman. “People would have to wait for a diagnosis. Now that we have evidence showing that early treatment can reduce the entire course of the disease, we really needed to ask the question about how early the diagnosis can be made.”

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: 4263 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Montreal, . A new discovery by scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University may provide insights into Multiple Sclerosis. In a study published in the May issue of the Journal of Neuroscience (J. Neuroscience 2003 23: 3735-3744), Dr. Tim Kennedy and colleagues have discovered that a protein called netrin-1 directs the normal movement of the cells that become oligodendrocytes in the developing spinal cord. Oligodendrocytes are the cells that provide critical support for the nerve cells – they make myelin, the electrical insulation of the central nervous system. They are also the cells that degenerate and die in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Although oligodendrocytes play an essential role in the nervous system, many aspects of their basic cell biology are not well understood, which is one of the reasons why MS is such a mystery. This research finding identifies a fundamental mechanism that directs migrating oligodendrocyte precursor cells. This has implications for understanding demyelinating diseases such as MS, where even a small myelin deficit can lead to functional impairment of the nerve cell. An estimated 50,000 people have MS, which is most often diagnosed in young adults. Its devastating effects last a lifetime and may include problems in seeing or speaking, difficulty with balance and coordination, and even paralysis. “Dr. Kennedy's research will contribute to the growing body of knowledge which is developing new therapies for MS," said Dr. William McIlroy, MS Society of Canada national medical advisor.

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: 3796 - Posted: 06.24.2010

In multiple sclerosis, new drugs and new insights are giving rise to new hopes BY KATHERINE HOBSON Lawrence Vail knew something was terribly wrong. More than a year ago, he was walking across a busy street in Boston when his leg went numb. Then came double vision and a mental fog that was so bad the 44-year-old thought he'd have to quit his job. But almost as quickly as he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, his doctor at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital put him on Avonex, one of several MS drugs approved over the past decade. After the disease changed his life, the medicine has changed it back. He can talk and express himself again. "The drug meant you go from the edge of the cliff to about 30 feet before the edge," he says. Tanya Pugliano, another MS patient at Brigham, also tried Avonex. But it didn't stop her legs from giving out or her hands from going numb. Neither did another MS drug, Copaxone. Now the 29-year-old is undergoing monthly chemotherapy treatments, like a cancer patient, trying yet another way of fighting back against the disease. Had either patient developed MS 15 years ago, even doctors at renowned medical centers like Brigham would have had little to offer them. They would have been powerless to stop the basic disaster of MS: a patient's immune system that savagely assaults the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Now, thanks to a handful of recently developed drugs–one just approved a few months ago–physicians can blunt this attack. "It's not a cure, but it's a far cry from what we had before," says neurologist Fred Lublin, director of the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Copyright © 2002 U.S. News & World Report, L.P.

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: 2747 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN – Researchers analyzing the records of 1,378 patients from three clinical trials of mitoxantrone as a treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) reveal a small, but significant risk for developing diminished left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), which is a decrease in function of the left ventrical, and a lesser risk for congestive heart failure following treatment. The study is reported in the latest issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Mitoxantrone (MITO) is approved in the United States for the treatment of worsening relapsing-remitting, secondary-progressive, and progressive-relapsing MS. Unlike patients with leukemia and solid tumors who most often receive MITO in combination with other drugs, patients with MS are treated with MITO as a single drug to alleviate disease symptoms, said study author Donald Goodkin, MD, medical affairs director with Amgen Corp., a U.S. marketer of mitoxantrone in the United States. Cardiac toxicity, which may cause tachycardia and arrhythmia, LVEF, or congestive heart failure, has already been observed and reported in cancer patients who receive mitoxantrone as a chemotherapeutic agent.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 2: Functional Neuroanatomy: The Cells and Structure of the Nervous System; Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 1: Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System; Chapter 2: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 2728 - Posted: 06.24.2010

DALLAS – A common drug given to multiple sclerosis patients appears to stimulate weakened immune system cells, according to a study published by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. While Copaxone, or glatiramer acetate, has long been known to slow or stop the progression of attacks in MS patients, researchers have not known exactly how the drug treated the disease. In the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, lead author Dr. Nitin Karandikar, UT Southwestern assistant professor of pathology and neurology, and colleagues report that Copaxone appears to stimulate a certain type of T cell in MS patients. Produced by the thymus gland, T cells are white blood cells that fight infection and, in healthy people, coordinate the body’s immune response. There are two types of T cells, CD4 and CD8 cells. Both are involved in the immune process that underlies MS and, in MS patients, the cells function abnormally to give rise to this disease. The researchers used flow cytometry to analyze cells taken from MS patients and were able to see the T cells rallying under the effect of Copaxone.

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: 1760 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Brandon Keim The most detailed genetic investigation ever of multiple sclerosis has produced more questions than answers. Using extremely fine-grained analytical tools, scientists compared genetic information in three sets of identical twins. One of each pair had MS, and the other didn’t — yet their genes proved essentially identical. “We find no smoking gun on the genetic level,” said National Center for Genome Resources geneticist Stephen Kingsmore, co-author of the study published April 28 in Nature. The research cost $1.5 million, and the scientists took 18 months to sequence 2.8 billion DNA units in each twin, and determine whether they came from the mother or father. Most genomic comparisons look for differences in a just handful of suspect genes, and even whole-genome approaches don’t differentiate between parental contributions. The researchers also analyzed the twins’ CD4 cells, a type of white blood cell that plays a central role in the development of MS. In these cells, the researchers sequenced epigenomes — chemical instructions that turn genes on and off — and transcriptomes, or a chemical record of genes that are actively coding proteins. Wired.com © 2009 Condé Nast Digital.

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: 14023 - Posted: 06.24.2010

WASHINGTON - Under intense pressure from patients, some U.S. doctors are cautiously testing a provocative theory that abnormal blood drainage from the brain may play a role in multiple sclerosis — and that a surgical vein fix might help. If it pans out, the approach suggested by a researcher in Italy could mark a vast change for MS, a disabling neurological disease long blamed on an immune system gone awry. But many patients frustrated by today’s limited therapies say they don’t have time to await the carefully controlled studies needed to prove if it really works and are searching out vein-opening treatment now — undeterred by one report of a dangerous complication. “This made sense and I was hell-bent on doing it,” says Nicole Kane Gurland of Bethesda, Md., the first to receive the experimental treatment at Washington’s Georgetown University Hospital, which is set to closely track how a small number of patients fare before and after using a balloon to widen blocked veins. Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here In Buffalo, N.Y., more than 1,000 people applied for 30 slots in a soon-to-start study of that same angioplasty procedure. When the Buffalo General Hospital team started a larger study a few months ago just to compare if bad veins are more common in MS patients than in healthy people — not to treat them — more than 13,000 patients applied. The demand worries Georgetown neurologist Dr. Carlo Tornatore, who teamed with vascular surgeon Dr. Richard Neville in hopes of getting some evidence to guide his own patients’ care. © 2010 The Associated Press.

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: 13899 - Posted: 06.24.2010

CBC News It's long been thought that stress is harmful to your health, but a new study finds chronic stress may increase a person's risk of developing or accelerating a neurodegenerative disease like multiple sclerosis. Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that inflammation brought on by stress leads to the worsening of the mouse equivalent of MS. In studies, stressed mice produced a cytokine which is released during stress. That cytokine increased the severity of an MS-like illness in the mice. CBC The findings were presented Friday at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association. In the study, scientists simulated stressful situations on mice infected with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis (TMEV), an acute infection of the central nervous system which is followed by a chronic autoimmune disease similar to that seen in humans with MS. Another group of mice was also infected but not exposed to stress. Researchers found that the stressed mice produced a cytokine — interleukin-6 (IL-6) — which is released during stress and regulates the part of the immune system that fights infection. IL-6 increases the severity of the MS-like illness. © CBC 2007

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: 10622 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Heidi Ledford People with one of two common gene variants may be at increased risk of developing the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers say. Both variants encode components of the immune system that are involved in preventing the body from attacking its own cells. Two papers1,2 published today in Nature Genetics independently pinpoint one of the variants, in the 'interleukin-7 receptor alpha chain' (IL7R) gene. A third research team scanned the full genome for variants associated with MS, and found both IL7R and another interleukin receptor gene — 'interleukin-2 receptor alpha' (IL2R) — among the top hits3. In MS the body's immune system attacks the insulating sheath that surrounds and protects neurons, leading loss of motor function and cognitive decline. Interleukin-2 and interleukin-7 are immune system proteins that play a role in the function of regulatory T-cells, which help suppress autoimmunity. The three research teams analyzed thousands of patients of European descent, and found that a single base pair difference in the IL7R gene increased the risk of having MS by about 20%. That risk is too low to make IL7R useful for a genetic test, cautions Margaret Pericak-Vance, a geneticist at the University of Miami in Florida, and an author on one of the studies. "A lot of people carry this particular variant, and they don't get multiple sclerosis," she says. Roughly 70% of the European population is likely to have the variant. ©2007 Nature Publishing Group

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: 10544 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Researchers have found that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) carry a population of immune cells that overreact to Epstein-Barr virus. The virus, which causes mononucleosis and may contribute to some cancers, has long been suspected to play a role in MS. However, the mechanism linking the virus to the disease was poorly understood. Scientists think that MS—which can cause vision problems, muscle weakness, and difficulty with coordination and balance—is a result of the immune system attacking the body's own nervous system. Not everyone who is infected with Epstein-Barr develops MS, but the results of the new study, published in the June 2006, issue of the journal Brain, suggest that some individuals' unusually strong reaction to the virus may trigger the disease. The findings could lead to new therapeutic strategies for better control of the damage caused in this autoimmune disorder. The culprit, the researchers say, may be a population of T cells that helps boost other components of the immune system in response to the virus. "What we discovered in the peripheral blood of the MS patients were T cells that appeared to be primed for action against EBV," said Nancy Edwards, an HHMI-NIH research scholar at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and co-author of the paper, which was published in advance online. © 2006 Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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: 8870 - Posted: 06.24.2010

When Ellen Bramble was 49 she stepped off a flight of stairs into thin air. She tumbled down, her laundry flying "every which way" and her limbs relaxed, as if she didn't even know she was falling. "I just kind of rolled and bounced on the concrete stairs…and I didn't get hurt, just a couple of bruises," says Bramble, a photographer from Portland, Oregon. This was the first of three falls that later led doctors to diagnose Bramble with multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a disease in which the body's own white blood cells attack and erode the protective insulation around nerve fibers in the brain, spinal cord, and optical nerves, causing patients' bodies to go numb and lose track of what they're doing. As her disease progressed, Bramble, who is now 59, learned to deal with her physical limitations. But what's been most frustrating is that she's often felt lost in a "fog." Bramble has "cognitive dysfunction," a symptom shared by half of America's 400,000 multiple sclerosis patients, which makes it difficult for her to think clearly and to do simple things many people take for granted — remembering words, reading, keeping track of her daily chores, or even knowing where she's going when she pulls out of her driveway. (C) ScienCentral, 2000-2005.

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: 7430 - Posted: 06.24.2010