OBJECTIVES To find whether CSF analysis may differentiate between relapsing-remitting and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. METHODS In 17 patients with relapsing-remitting and 16 patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, all without current or recent relapses, albumin CSF: peripheral blood ratio, mononuclear cell number, CD4+, CD8+, and B1+ subsets, CD4+:CD8+ ratio, IgG,...

BACKGROUND Several studies have reported lower focal demyelination and inflammatory activity in primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) than in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). However, very little is known about possible differences in damage and distribution that may occur within lesions visible on magnetic resonance imaging in the 2 forms of the disease. OBJECTIVE To evaluate differenc...

Longitudinal imaging studies of primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) have shown significant changes in MR measures over 1 to 2 years. Correlation with clinical change over the same period has not been evident; we investigated the possibility that this is because the period of observation was insufficient for these associations to become apparent. Forty-one patients with PPMS were follo...

The ongoing US Glatiramer Acetate (GA) Trial is the longest evaluation of continuous immunomodulatory therapy in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The objective of this study was to evaluate up to 15 years of GA as a sole disease-modifying therapy. Two hundred and thirty-two patients received at least one GA dose since study initiation in 1991 (mITT cohort), and 100 (43%, Ongoing c...

Primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) is defined clinically with a progressive course from onset. There is no approved treatment for the PPMS. Methylprednisolone IV (MP) hastens the recovery from MS relapses. We studied 11 patients that met the MacDonald's diagnostic criteria for PPMS. The dose of MP was 30 mg/kg in 250 mL of glucose solution in three consecutive days during the first w...

multiple  sclerosis  (ms) is  an  autoimmune  multifactorial  degenerative  disease  with detrimental affliction on central nervous system. mhc class i chain- related genea,b(mica and micb) are nonclassical human leukocyte antigens that can affect on some diseases and also on transplantation. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the mica and micb mrna expression in multiple sclerosis patie...

Progressive visual failure as the presenting feature of multiple sclerosis is described in five patients. The clinical features did not permit a distinction from visual loss due to compression. The finding of oligoclonal bands in the CSF at presentation is a useful pointer to the diagnosis, but is not specific and full investigation to exclude treatable causes of visual loss is essential.

Chemokines are 8 ± 12 kd chemoattractant cytokines characterized by a four cysteine motif (Luster, 1998; Ransohoff et al, 1996; Schall, 1994; Taub, 1996). The presence or absence of an intervening amino acid(s) (X) between the N terminal cysteines de®nes the CXC/CX3C and CC families, respectively. A third family, C chemokines, lacks an N terminal cysteine but is otherwise homologous. It was ori...

Multiple sclerosis associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a very rare event. Seven patients with multiple sclerosis and NF1 are described in the literature, and all were reported to have the primary progressive form of multiple sclerosis. Three new patients with NF1 that developed multiple sclerosis are described and it is shown that the range of multiple sclerosis associated with NF...