Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have defined for the
first time a key underlying process implicated in multiple
sclerosis (MS) - a disease that causes progressive and
irreversible damage to nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
This discovery offers new hope for the millions who suffer from
this debilitating disease for which there is no cure.
Researchers in the laboratory of Gladstone Investigator Katerina
Akassoglou, PhD, a professor in neurology at UCSF, have
identified in animal models precisely how a protein that seeps
from the blood into the brain sets off a response that, over
time, causes the nerve cell damage that is a key indicator of
MS. These findings lay the groundwork for much-needed therapies
to treat this disease. MS, which afflicts more than two million
people worldwide, develops when the body's immune system attacks
the brain. This attack damages nerve cells, leading to a host of
symptoms including numbness, fatigue, difficulty walking,
paralysis and loss of vision. While some dru