PPMS Pathological Mechanisms

[Marco]

A better understanding of the pathological mechanisms that drive neurodegeneration in individuals with multiple sclerosis is needed to develop therapies that will effectively treat patients in the primary and secondary progressive stages of the disease. We propose that the inflammatory demyelinating disease process in early multiple sclerosis triggers a cascade of events that lead to neurodegeneration and are amplified by pathogenic mechanisms related to brain ageing and accumulated disease burden. Key elements driving neurodegeneration include microglia activation, chronic oxidative injury, accumulation of mitochondrial damage in axons, and age-related iron accumulation in the human brain. Altered mitochondrial function in axons might be of particular importance. This process leads to chronic cell stress and imbalance of ionic homoeostasis, resulting in axonal and neuronal death. The evidence suggests that treatment of progressive multiple sclerosis should be based on a combination of anti-inflammatory, regenerative, and neuroprotective strategies.


Press Release: http://www.meduniwien.ac.at/homepage...3f749425b880e4


Full Article:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/la...256-X/abstract

[JerryD]

Thanks Marco. This is an interesting read. I cannot believe that these statements have not been introduced at a much earlier date.
I don't know much, but I do know that this statement explains that there are many specifics that the scientific world needs to discover so that effective treatments for progressive MS can be designed. Why can't they just say 'it's really difficult to find a treatment for progressive MS, because we don't know what we're looking for' ?

[jreagan70]

I cannot believe that these statements have not been introduced at a much earlier date.

Actually, all of this information has been known, and published about, for years. It's old news. This new article just puts the picture together better and brings new attention for the need for more study and new approaches. And more attention is a good thing.

Why can't they just say 'it's really difficult to find a treatment for progressive MS, because we don't know what we're looking for' ?

Scientists have said that it's difficult to find a treatment for progressive MS, but it's not that they don't know what they're looking for.

They have a pretty good idea of what they're looking for, but what's being searched for has so far eluded detection and deciphering. Some of it is along the same lines as why there still is no way to regenerate spinal cords. it isn't that researchers aren't working tirelessly on finding answers. There are just too many moving parts and no "silver bullet" like there was for something as simple as syphilis.

There are many discoveries still to be made and put together. The scientists who have devoted their lives to researching progressive MS and looking for a cure don't get the attention or respect they deserve.