Research lines into Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is one of the neurological diseases in which the knowledge of it is more advanced, which makes it possible to establish an early and accurate diagnosis and develop new therapies.

In this sense, within a few years, there are now more than 10 treatments available, which due to their nature, have mainly contributed to decreasing the inflammatory activity of the disease and, in some cases, to decrease the progression of the disability in patients with the primary progressive form of the disease.

Efforts are now being made to have targeted therapies that could favour re-myelination or protect the nervous system from the neurodegenerative process inherent to this disease. Some of them are now being evaluated in clinical trials.

Cell therapies should not be forgotten, as they have the aim of re-adapting the malfunctioning immune system, nor the trials with stem cells to regenerate the established neurological deficits.

Similarly, various international projects are directed at identifying the factors involved in the heterogeneity of the disease, not only in the presentation and course of the disease, but also in the response to therapies. These projects use new tools such as advanced magnetic resonance, studies to identify genetic variants and biological markers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid, which may help to predict the prognosis in a more individualised way and personalise the treatment.

Recently, a study has shown that the risk of developing this disease considerably increases in people that have been infected with Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). However, having had the infection is not enough to develop the disease. To date, it is unknown if the relationship between both is causal, and the same happens regarding the possible mechanism involved.