CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets - CNS & Neurological Disorders) - Volume 11, Issue 5, 2012

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common neurological disease mainly affecting young people. Around the world, over 2.5 million people suffer from this central nervous system (CNS) disorder. Although the exact disease mechanism is not completely clear, it is known that both environmental and genetic factors influence the development of MS. Here we aim to summarize a few major highlights of recent progress that have been Read More

Pathological examination of the affected human tissue is key to understanding the possible mechanisms operating in the disease. In multiple sclerosis (MS), studies of central nervous system (CNS) tissues reveal the inflammatory nature of the disease associated with demyelination and axonal damage. Based on the concept of a pathogenic adaptive immune response, immunosuppressive therapies have been developed Read More

The pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) is typically characterised by inflammation and demyelination leading to neurodegeneration, which is associated with disability and the progressive stages of MS. The visual system is a valuable tool for studying neurodegeneration and potential neuroprotection in the central nervous system due to its ease of accessibility. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive too Read More

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a heterogeneous disease that develops as an interplay between the immune system and environmental stimuli in genetically susceptible individuals. There is increasing evidence that viruses may play a role in MS pathogenesis acting as these environmental triggers. However, it is not known if any single virus is causal, or rather several viruses can act as triggers in disease development. Here, Read More

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a highly debilitating immune mediated disorder of the central nervous system and represents a substantial burden to the developed world. Despite the recent advances in MS research, which risk factors are implicated and how they contribute to MS pathogenesis is largely unknown. However, in line with older studies investigating the genetic and geographical epidemiology of this complex disease, m Read More

Both immune-mediated and neurodegenerative processes play a role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). There is still considerable debate, however, on how to link these two seemingly unrelated elements in disease. It has also remained unclear how the immune system can be involved without harboring any obvious myelin-directed abnormality in MS patients. Here, we propose that the unique properties of a sm Read More

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is widely considered to be the result of an aggressive autoreactive T cell attack on myelin. How these autoimmune responses arise in MS is unclear, but they could result from virus infections. Thus, viral and autoimmune diseases in animals have been used to investigate the possible pathogenic mechanisms operating in MS. The autoimmune model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, is the most wi Read More

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Mechanisms of disease progression in MS are poorly understood but are thought to relate to both focal pathology as well as diffuse inflammation in the white and grey matter. Evidence points to neurodegeneration combined with a loss of cellular function in the remaining tissue as an important factor to the progression of MS. Mit Read More

In multiple sclerosis, conduction block in demyelinated axons underlies early neurological symptoms, whereas axonal transection is believed to be responsible for more permanent later deficits. Approved treatments for the disease are immunoregulatory and reduce the rate of lesion formation and clinical exacerbation, but are only partially effective in preventing the onset of disability. Remyelination is a term for the re-generati Read More

The term “disease modifying drugs” (DMD) is taken from rheumatologists who coined it after the use of immunosuppressive drugs and, more recently, the association of “biological drugs” that changed the degenerative course of rheumatic disease. In the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), the advent of interferon (IFN)-β, which caused a reduction in the number of relapses and possibly improvement in disability outco Read More

For many years, multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have been self-medicating with illegal street cannabis to alleviate symptoms associated with MS. Data from animal models of MS and clinical studies have supported the anecdotal data that cannabis can improve symptoms such as limb spasticity, which are commonly associated with progressive MS, by the modulation of excessive neuronal signalling. This has lead to can Read More