Neutralizing antibodies (NABS) and interferon beta-1b therapy of multiple sclerosis.

Biological drugs that have a protein or peptide structure provide new and highly eff e c t i v e therapies for a number of conditions and diseases, but their prolonged use in patients gives rise to new problems and questions, amongst them the possible occurrence of neutralizing antibodies (Nabs). We discuss some aspects of this particular problem in relation to interferon-beta therapy of multiple sclerosis (MS). Interferon beta-1b is the first effective longterm therapy for MS. It has been shown to reduce in a significant way the number and severity of MS attacks both in relapsing-remitting and in secondary-progressive MS and to postpone motor and other forms of disability – as expressed in the extended disability status score (EDSS) – as well as to delay, in the more advanced progressive form of the disease, the point at which a patient becomes wheelchair-bound. It also has a strong impact on the “burden of disease” and on the occurrence of new CNS lesions, as evidenced by MRI, which indicates an impressive suppression of the acute inflammatory process in MS. Interferon beta is a human cytokine with non-specific anti-viral and anti-proliferative effects; it is also