Background Several disease-modifying drug therapies are available for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). To ensure the most appropriate MS management, we assessed the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the disease-modifying medicines used for MS. Methods We conducted a systematic review including 11 disease-modifying drugs used for treatment of adult patients diagnosed with relaps...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of interferon beta-1b (IFbeta-1b) for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). METHODS Construction of a cost-effectiveness model using published data on IFbeta-1b effectiveness and the natural history of RRMS, and new data on costs and quality of life (QoL) from a sample of 102 patients with RRMS and resident in northern England. RESULTS P...

Recently, cell-based replicon systems for hepatitis C virus (HCV), in which the nonstructural proteins stably replicate subgenomic viral RNA in Huh7 cells, were developed. To date, one limitation of using these replicon systems to advance drug discovery is the inability of other genotypic derivatives, beyond those of two distinct strains of genotype 1b (HCV-N and Con1), to stably replicate in H...

The AML-1/CBF beta transcription factor complex is targeted by both the t(8;21) and the inv(16) chromosomal alterations, which are frequently observed in acute myelogenous leukemia. AML-1 is a site-specific DNA-binding protein that recognizes the enhancer core motif TGTGGT. The t(8;21) translocation fuses the first 177 amino acids of AML-1 to MTG8 (also known as ETO), generating a chimeric prot...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of interferon beta (IFNβ)-1b on all-cause mortality over 21 years in the cohort of 372 patients who participated in the pivotal randomized clinical trial (RCT), retaining (in the analysis) the original randomized treatment-assignments. METHODS For this randomized long-term cohort study, the primary outcome, defined before data collection, was the comparison of...

Type I interferon (IFN-alpha/beta) is expressed rapidly following exposure to a wide variety of infectious agents and plays a key role in innate control of virus replication. Recent studies have demonstrated that dendritic cells both produce IFN-alpha/beta and undergo maturation in response to IFN-alpha/beta. Moreover, IFN-alpha/beta has been shown to potently enhance immune responses in vivo t...

Post marketing studies of Interferon-beta (IFN beta) therapy in multiple sclerosis (MS) have demonstrated surprisingly high rates of hepatotoxicity. Grade 3 hepatotoxicity (AST and ALT > 5 to 20 upper limit normal) or higher has been observed in as many as 1.4% of MS patients on IFN beta. We report three cases of IFN beta induced hepatitis in MS and discuss the pathology findings and possible m...