In the CNS, no pathway dedicated to immune surveillance has been characterized for preventing the anti-CNS immune responses that develop in autoimmune neuroinflammatory disease. Here, we identified a pathway for immune cells to traffic from the brain that is associated with the rostral migratory stream (RMS), which is a forebrain source of newly generated neurons. Evaluation of fluorescently la...

Sphingolipids are a fascinating class of signaling molecules derived from the membrane lipid sphingomyelin. They show abundant expression in the brain. Complex sphingolipids such as glycosphingolipids (gangliosides and cerebrosides) regulate vesicular transport and lysosomal degradation and their dysregulation can lead to storage diseases with a neurological phenotype. More recently, simple sph...

BackgroundNatalizumab and fingolimod were the first preparations recommended for disease breakthrough in priorly treated relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Of three published head-to-head studies two showed that natalizumab is more effective to prevent relapses EDSS worsening.MethodsBy re-analyzing original results from MSBase, France, Denmark using uniform methodologies, we aimed at ident...

Mitsubishi Pharma Corp and Novartis AG are developing fingolimod, an orally active immunosuppressant affecting lymphocyte re-circulation, for the potential prevention of transplant rejection and the treatment of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis. Fingolimodis a synthetic sphingosine analog that becomes phosphorylated in vivo and acts as a sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor agonist.

Introduction: In patients with Multiple Sclerosis (pwMS) disease- modifying therapies (DMTs) are known to affect immune response antigens and possibly SARS-CoV2 vaccine. Therefore, post-vaccination serological assessments needed evaluate the effect of vaccine on SARS-CoV-2 antibody response. Objectives aims: We designed a prospective multicenter cohort study enrolling pwMS who were scheduled fo...

A 31-year-old woman (figure) with relapsingremitting multiple sclerosis (MS) (first symptoms February 1994, first diagnosis August 1994, Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] 3.0) was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2014. The last relapse had occurred in August 2007. Under treatment with natalizumab from August 2007 to June 2013, the patient was clinically stable and the brain MRI sho...

The therapeutic landscape for multiple sclerosis (MS) is rapidly changing. Currently, there are eight FDA approved disease modifying therapies for MS including: IFN-β-1a (Avonex, Rebif), IFN-β-1b (Betaseron, Extavia), glatiramer acetate (Copaxone), mitoxantrone (Novantrone), natalizumab (Tysabri), and fingolimod (Gilenya). This review will highlight the experience to date and key clinical trial...

Fingolimod (Gilenya®) is the first oral immunomodulating drug approved for relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis. Its novel mechanism of action inhibits the egress of autoreactive B and T cells from lymph nodes, thus preventing them from crossing into the CNS. Two recent large Phase III clinical trials both met their primary end points clearing the way for approval by the US FDA in September 2...

With a growing number of disease-modifying therapies becoming available for relapsing multiple sclerosis, there is an important need to gather real-world evidence data regarding long-term treatment effectiveness and safety in unselected patient populations. Although not providing as high a level of evidence as randomized controlled trials, and prone to bias, real-world studies from observationa...

Background. Natalizumab treatment is frequently discontinued and replaced by alternative medication in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients having a high risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Case Presentation. We report a PML case that was missed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at the time Natalizumab treatment was discontinued. The patient subsequently developed a PML-immu...