UNLABELLED Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system characterised with a complex system of interactions between proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in its course. AIM The aim of the present study was to investigate the serum levels of cytokines TNF-a, IFN-gamma, IL-4 and IL-10 in female patients with MS and healthy individuals, ...

In this study we aimed to determine the levels of tumor necrosis factor beta (TNF-b), interleukin (IL) 1-beta (IL-1b), IL-5, IL-10, and interferon gamma (IFN-g ) in CSF from children during the onset of West syndrome (WS). We observed elevated levels of IL-1b and IFN-g correlated to clinical, EEG, therapeutic response, and follow-up suggesting the involvement of immune response in WS. These res...

OBJECTIVES To determine levels of urinary myelin basic protein-like material (MBPLM) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) openly treated with interferon beta-1b and to correlate these with clinical changes. BACKGROUND Levels of urinary MBPLM correlate with the presence of the progressive phase of MS and with the disease burden detected on T2-weighted, cranial magnetic resonance imaging. M...

none of the approved immunomodulatory drugs in adults multiple sclerosis (ms) patients have been officially approved for the pediatric patients and are currently used off-label in this population. in this study, we evaluated the effectiveness and tolerability of intramuscular interferon beta1-a (avonex®) and subcutaneously injected interferon beta1-b (betaferon®) in children with definite relap...

background: it has been reported that liver function alterations occur in 8–38% of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (rrms) treated with interferon-beta in controlled clinical trials or in prospective but non-controlled studies. we report herein a case of symptomatic liver dysfunction associated with two-year-period of regular interferon-beta-1a (avonex®) intramuscular inject...

Recently, the clinical efficacy of interferon beta-1b (IFNbeta-1b) was demonstrated for secondary progressive (SP) multiple sclerosis in a European multicentre study. We evaluated the effect of IFNbeta-1b treatment on the rate of development of hypointense T(1) MRI lesions, a putative marker of axonal damage. Unenhanced T(1)-weighted images were obtained in a subgroup of 95 multiple sclerosis p...

The volume of hypointense lesions on T1 weighted brain MRI represents an increasingly used MR endpoint in phase III MS treatment trials. In this study we evaluated the reproducibility of hypointense T1 lesion volume quantification in a cohort of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. The gadolinium enhanced T1 weighted brain MR images of 33 MS patients from three European centers were used in this s...

OBJECTIVE To study changes in brain volume measured monthly in patients treated for relapsing multiple sclerosis due to loss of tissue and the appearance of inflammation. DESIGN AND PATIENTS The results from T2/fluid-attenuated inversion recovery axial images from 13 consecutive monthly 3-T brain magnetic resonance imaging tests conducted on 74 patients diagnosed with relapsing multiple scler...

PURPOSE To explore the applicability of subtraction magnetic resonance (MR) images to (a) detect active multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions, (b) directly quantify lesion load change, and (c) detect treatment effects (distinguish treatment arms) in a placebo-controlled multicenter clinical trial by comparing the subtraction scheme with a conventional pair-wise comparison of nonregistered MR images. ...

BACKGROUND Evidence for efficacy of disease-modifying drugs in multiple sclerosis (MS) comes from trials of short duration. We report results from a 16 y, retrospective follow-up of the pivotal interferon beta-1b (IFNB-1b) study. METHODS The 372 trial patients were randomly assigned to placebo (n=123), IFNB-1b 50 microg (n=125) or IFNB-1b 250 microg (n=124) subcutaneously every other day for ...