Source m.phys.org: A nanotechnology treatment derived from bone marrow stem cells has reversed multiple sclerosis symptoms in mice and could eventually be used to help humans, according to a new study led by the University of California, Irvine researchers.

“Until now, stem cell therapies for autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases have produced mixed results in clinical trials, partly because we don’t know how the treatments work,” said corresponding author Weian Zhao, an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences and biomedical engineering who is affiliated with the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. “This study helps unravel that mystery and paves the way for testing with human patients.”

In past experiments, intravenously injected stem cells—taken from bone marrow and activated with interferon gamma, an immune system protein—often got trapped in filter organs before reaching their target. For this study, published in the journal ACS Nano, researchers avoided that problem by extracting nano-sized particles called exosomes from the stem cells and injecting them into rodents with MS.  Read on. 

Source Science Daily: Researchers have found mutations in 12 genes believed to be largely responsible for the onset of multiple sclerosis in families with multiple members diagnosed with the disease.

An international team of researchers led by the University of British Columbia has made a scientific advance they hope will lead to the development of preventative treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS).

In a study published today in PLOS Genetics, researchers found mutations in 12 genes believed to be largely responsible for the onset of MS in families with multiple members diagnosed with the disease.

“These genes are like a lighthouse illuminating where the root cause of MS is,” said lead author Carles Vilariño-Güell, assistant professor in the UBC faculty of medicine’s department of medical genetics and a Michael Smith Scholar.  Read on. 

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Source UCLH.nhs.uk: UCLH’s Biomedical Research Centre has supported the development of a new artificial intelligence-based method for detecting the brain’s response to treatment in multiple sclerosis (MS) that is substantially better than what a human expert is able to do using conventional techniques, representing potentially ‘superhuman’ performance in the task.

UCL researchers – led by Dr Parashkev Nachev and Prof Olga Ciccarelli, both of the UCL Institute of Neurology – in partnership with Kings College London researchers, hope in future this method will be used to predict an individual’s response to a drug before they start treatment, and which drug a patient should be given.

One way of assessing MS treatment response is by analysing patients’ MRI scans. At present, radiologists assess scans by counting the number of lesions and measuring lesion volumes, comparing these observations with those made on scans done before treatment started.

But the researchers’ new AI-based method of analysing scans means that regions of the brain can be analysed in much greater detail, and in a way which more closely reflects the complexity of the brain.  Read on. 

Source MS Trust: The MS Trust is delighted that Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) has been approved by NICE for NHS treatment of early, inflammatory primary progressive MS.

NICE has approved Ocrevus for people with primary progressive MS if they:

• have had symptoms of primary progressive MS for 15 years or less and
• are able to walk 20 metres or more, with or without walking aids (up to EDSS 6.5) and
• have evidence of MS activity on MRI scans

This reverses an earlier decision by NICE to reject Ocrevus for PPMS. The final publication of this decision was paused to allow time for further discussions to take place between NICE, NHS England and drug manufacturer Roche.  Read on.