Is multiple sclerosis an autoimmune disorder?

in immune tolerance either in time to prevent the further cascade of events or with the administration of drugs to check the degenera-tive process. As stronger and more specific immune modulators are developed and given at the very onset of the disease, better control of the disease will be attained. of specific chemokines and chemokine receptors in the central nervous system of multiple sclerosis patients. Increased frequency of interleu-kin 2-responsive T cells specific for myelin basic protein and proteolipid protein in peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis.litogenic potential of the myelin basic protein pep-tide (amino acids 83-99) in multiple sclerosis: results of a phase II clinical trial with an altered peptide ligand. A controlled trial of natalizumab for relapsing multiple sclerosis. et al. Mitoxan-trone in progressive multiple sclerosis: a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised, multicen-tre trial.nal antibody treatment exposes three mechanisms underlying the clinical course of multiple sclerosis. Treatment of multiple sclerosis with cyclophosphamide: critical review of clinical and immunologic effects. Increased percentage of IL-12+ monocytes in the blood correlates with the presence of active MRI lesions in MS. et al. Decreased interleukin-10 and increased in-terleukin-12p40 mRNA are associated with disease activity and characterize different disease stages in multiple sclerosis.bel RA, Kuchroo VK. Myelin oligodendrocyte gly-coprotein-specific T cell receptor transgenic mice develop spontaneous autoimmune optic neuritis. of multiple sclerosis lesions: implications for the patho-genesis of demyelination. T HE PATHOGENESIS OF multiple sclerosis (MS) has been debated for decades. At times the arguments have been based on equal parts speculation, fact, and whimsy. (What happened, for example, to the notion that the increased incidence of MS in northern latitudes occurs because people in these colder regions are more likely to be exposed to pet-borne viruses because their animals remain indoors?) As Mark Twain once quipped, " The fascinating thing about science is that one gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. " Some speculation is not always bad, of course, because some concept of what is possible is necessary to develop a model that can be objectively studied. Both sides 1,2 make valid points here, and there may be more common ground between the authors than is at first apparent. Everyone acknowledges that MS can affect neu-rons as well as the white matter; the debate is whether the neurons are affected late or early in the process. Acute disseminated encephalomy-elitis (ADEM) is …