Research in MS is progressing at a remarkable rate, with more potential therapies in the pipeline than at any other time in history. The National MS Society is a driving force of MS research, supporting and stimulating world-class research into ways to prevent, better treat and cure this unpredictable disease of the brain and spinal cord. Learn how far we’ve come, where we’re going and what the Society and others are doing to move toward a world free of MS.
Research News
Bulletins about research progress from around the world
New Funding Opportunity
The NMSS announces new funding opportunities in Health Care Delivery and Policy Research
Research We Fund
The who, what, where, why and how of the Society’s cutting-edge MS research
Intriguing Leads on the Horizon
Exciting leads and clinical trials researchers are pursuing
Clinical Trials
These treatment trials urgently need patients willing to participate
Researchers Need You
How you can help move research forward by getting involved
How Far We’ve Come
History and timeline of progress, and how the Society has helped propel these advances
Recent Research News
Society-funded Study Shows Evidence of Nerve Regeneration within MS Lesions
Aug 19, 2008
A study of brain tissue obtained from nine people with MS shows that, while many areas of damage show expected loss of myelin and nerve cells, a few older lesions showed a 72% increase in nerve cells when compared with neighboring brain regions. Authors Bruce Trapp, PhD, Ansi Chang, MD, and colleagues (Cleveland Clinic Foundation) believe their findings support the possibility that nerve cells in the white matter of the brain can be replaced after they are destroyed by MS. The report appears in an early online issue of Brain (July 23, 2008). The study was funded by the National MS Society and the National Institutes of Health.
Exploring Why Physical Activity is Reduced in People with MS: Society-funded Investigators Seek Participants
Aug 19, 2008
Investigators funded by the National MS Society are seeking people with MS to participate in a study exploring whether the frequency and severity of MS-related symptoms influence physical activity. Robert W. Motl, PhD (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and colleagues are tracking changes in activity over three years in 250 individuals with relapsing-remitting MS, a course of MS characterized by flare-ups followed by complete or partial remissions. This study could improve our knowledge of the factors that reduce physical activity in people with MS, and help design programs to increase it.
FDA-Approved Label Changes Clarify Tysabri’s Indications and Should Ease Coverage by Health Plans
Aug 15, 2008
Label changes recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the drug Tysabri® (natalizumab, Biogen Idec and Elan Pharmaceuticals) now generally recommend the drug for patients who have had an inadequate response to, or inability to tolerate, a single alternate MS therapy; previous wording had suggested that a patient would generally need to do poorly on more than one alternate therapy. This change should improve its coverage by health plans. The new label change also updates warnings related to the potential risk of developing PML, in light of two new cases that developed in individuals who were using it as a monotherapy.
MS Trial Alert: Study of Ocrelizumab Recruiting People with Relapsing-Remitting MS
Aug 13, 2008
Summary: Investigators worldwide are recruiting 200 people with relapsing-remitting MS* for a study of intravenous ocrelizumab (Genentech, Inc., and F. Hoffman La-Roche, Ltd.). Ocrelizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody. It targets a part of the immune system called the B cell by attaching to a specific protein on the B cell known as CD20; this attachment then leads to a removal of these cells from the blood. The experimental drug is being evaluated in two doses, and in comparison with Avonex® (interferon beta-1a, Biogen Idec) and inactive placebo. The study is funded by Genentech, inc., and F. Hoffman La-Roche, Ltd.
Society-funded Researchers Find Pattern of Gene Activity Associated with High Risk for MS
Aug 13, 2008
In a major step toward discovering molecules that may be used as “markers” to predict MS disease activity and progression, researchers identified a pattern of gene expression (i.e., patterns of genes being turned on or off) within immune cells that was associated with quick conversion to MS in a study of 37 people with CIS (clinically isolated syndrome, a first event suggestive of MS). Senior author Sergio Baranzini, PhD, Jean-Cristophe Corvol, PhD and colleagues (University of California, San Francisco) report the results in an early online publication from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (August 5, 2008). This study was funded by several sources including a Collaborative MS Research Center Award to Jorge Oksenberg, PhD, from the National MS Society.