Source BBC: Scans carried out when someone is first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis can predict their long-term prognosis, research has shown.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are already a key part of the diagnosis and management of MS.

But a 15-year study of people with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), who can go on to develop MS, suggests they can also predict future disability.

The MS Society said more information would help patients’ treatment choices.

The organisation, which funded the study in the journal Brain, added that knowing more about their condition would also reduce uncertainty for patients.  Read on.

Source BBC:  Welsh patients are taking part in a drugs trial aimed at slowing late-stage multiple sclerosis progression.

Experts are looking at how effective a drug is after a smaller study found it may slow down neuronal degeneration.

Euryl James, of Llangennith, Gower, said she got involved as a breakthrough could be life-changing.

A total of 1,000 patients in 20 UK centres are involved in the study, including 25 in Swansea’s Morriston Hospital and others in Cardiff.

MS is a neurological disorder affecting movement and causes other problems.

Morriston Hospital neurologist Dr Owen Pearson said: “The study aims to find out whether this treatment will slow the death of nerves and therefore slow the progression of the disease.”

The first study, which examined MRI data, showed neuronal degeneration – or the rate of “brain shrinkage” – reduced by 40% in those taking statins – a medicine used to lower cholesterol – compared with those on a placebo.  Read on.

Source MS Trust: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended that Gilenya (fingolimod) must not be taken by pregnant women or women of childbearing age who are not using effective contraception.

A review of Gilenya and pregnancy was carried out by the EMA’s safety committee following reports which suggested that babies born to mothers taking Gilenya during pregnancy have a greater risk of birth defects compared with the general population.  Read on.

Source Multiple Sclerosis News Today: A first group of healthy volunteers in a Phase 1 trial assessing the safety and tolerability of T20K, Cyxone‘s plant protein-derived candidate for the treatment of multiple sclerosis(MS), has been dosed in a study taking place in The Netherlands, the company announced.

T20K is an investigational prophylactic (preventive) therapy, possibly intended for all MS forms. The eight male volunteers that make up a group are being given one or two infused doses of the potential treatment and their blood analyzed.  Read on.

Source Medical News Toady: A Phase 3 trial is planned to confirm the safety and efficacy of oral ibudilast (MN-166) in treating people with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) without relapses or those whose disease is not active, MediciNova announced.

Data from this single Phase 3 study may be used to request marketing approval for ibudilast with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the company said in a press release.

Ibudilast, a first-in-class small molecule, works to suppress three cytokines (small signalling proteins) that promote inflammation: IL-1ß, TNF-a, and IL-6. It may also increase the activity of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, and help block the signals of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) that is involved in inflammation. All these activities are thought to contribute to ibudilast’s ability to ease neuroinflammation.  Read on.

Source Science Daily: The research shows that projection neurons are damaged by the body’s own immune cells and that this damage could underpin the brain shrinkage and cognitive changes associated with MS. These new findings provide a platform for specific new MS therapies that target damaged brain cells to be developed.

Scientists have discovered that a specific brain cell is known as a ‘projection neuron’ has a central role to play in the brain changes seen in multiple sclerosis (MS). The research, published today in Nature, shows that projection neurons are damaged by the body’s own immune cells and that this damage could underpin the brain shrinkage and cognitive changes associated with MS. These new findings provide a platform for specific new MS therapies that target damaged brain cells to be developed.  Read on. 

Source Multiple Sclerosis News Today: The National Stem Cell Foundation (NSCF) announced the start of a pioneering project to investigate the impact of microgravity on the neurodegeneration associated with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) and Parkinson’s disease.

The project, a collaboration between the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute, the Summit for Stem Cell, and investigators with Aspen Neuroscience, will send 3-D brain organoids derived from patients with these disorders, for a first time, to the International Space Station (ISS) on SpaceX CRS-18.

This flight, set to launch on July 21 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, is a test run for a 30-day study of neurodegeneration in microgravity set to take place on the space station this fall.  Read on.

Source Multiple Sclerosis News Today: A new study demonstrates that intracellular sigma peptide (ISP) can promote remyelination in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). 

Importantly, this study was independent of NervGen, a pharmaceutical company that is developing an ISP-like compound — NVG-291 — for the treatment of nerve injury and MS.

The study, “Modulating proteoglycan receptor PTPσ using intracellular sigma peptide improves remyelination and functional recovery in mice with demyelinated optic chiasm,” was published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience.

ISP is an inhibitor of the protein tyrosine phosphatase sigma (PTPσ), which slows the healing process when there is inflammation in the central nervous system. By blocking this healing-preventing receptor, ISP can promote nervous system healing and remyelination — the repair of myelin, the nerve cell “sheath” that becomes damaged in MS. Read on.