What new research and current studies are being done on Multiple Sclerosis ?

Question

Are there newer and better drugs on the horizon?
can you supply some links to current data in this field of research and the direction towards a new discovery?

Thank you to everyone for answering.

Everyone gave excellent well thought out and extremely helpful answers, You all deserve Best A.
Thank you again!

Answer 1

Reported December 25, 2007
Vitamin D Important for Brain Function

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Not only does vitamin D help build healthy bones, it may also help build strong minds.

In a new review of vitamin D researchers from Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute find there is plenty of evidence to suggest vitamin D is important in brain development and function. And they say people at high risk of not getting enough of it need supplements.

Scientists have recently become aware that vitamin D is good for more than just bones – evidence shows it protects against autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis and type I diabetes as well as some forms of cancer, especially colorectal and breast.

This review shows vitamin D can affect proteins in the brain known to be directly involved in learning, memory, motor control, and perhaps maternal and social behavior.

Vitamin D can only be found in a few foods such as fatty fish. It is also added to fortified milk. But we get most of our vitamin D from exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun. People with light skin absorb vitamin D six times more efficiently than those with dark skin which is why dark-skinned people in the Northern United States or European latitudes with little sun exposure are at risk for rickets, bone fractures, and possibly other diseases.

Even though more research needs to be done on the health risks of not getting enough vitamin D the authors recommend people with exceptionally low levels of it – especially nursing infants, the elderly, and African Americans – take supplements.
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=17765


Research promises to reduce suffering from MS
Regrowth of nerves, preventive vaccine could be on horizon

By Marie McCullough
Philadelphia Inquirer

Published on Tuesday, Dec 25, 2007

PHILADELPHIA: Barely 15 years ago, doctors could do nothing to change the course of multiple sclerosis, the disabling neurological disease that strikes in the prime of adulthood.

Today, six drugs are approved to decrease the periodic immune attacks that underlie MS, another six are in final human testing, and dozens more are in development. Researchers have zeroed in on genetic and environmental risk factors; a common virus may play a role in activating the disease. And the ultimate goal — regrowing damaged nerves — is no longer a pipe dream.

''I think a regeneration process may be available in the next five to 10 years,'' said Abdolmohamad Rostami, chair of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University, where researchers have partially reversed nerve damage in mice. ''I'm very optimistic.''

Rostami joined other MS researchers at last month's annual conference of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Greater Delaware Valley Chapter.

Without being Pollyannaish about the prospects for curing MS, the experts agreed that huge strides have been made in managing and slowing the disease.

''We're treating people much earlier, so they're getting more years of exacerbation-free time, which we believe will reduce the long-term disability,'' said Clyde Markowitz, director of the MS Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

In MS, infection-fighting white blood cells attack the protective myelin covering that insulates nerve fibers in the brain, spinal cord and eyes. Like broken electrical cables, the inflamed myelin — and, eventually, nerves — become unable to conduct the brain's signals. This can cause impaired vision, numbness, mental problems and paralysis.

About 10 percent of patients become steadily and progressively more disabled without clear autoimmune attacks. But most of the country's 400,000 patients experience relapses of varying severity and frequency, with complete or partial recovery in between.

Circumstantial evidence has long supported the idea that MS is triggered by an infectious agent in people with genetic susceptibility.

Now, research is bolstering suspicion that Epstein-Barr virus is the culprit.

Epstein-Barr is a microbe that infects about 95 percent of U.S. adults. Often there are no symptoms, but more than a third of infected adolescents and young adults develop infectious mononucleosis.

A history of mono increases the small risk of MS as much as threefold.

While the viral link is controversial, it is raising hopes that MS could be prevented with a vaccine, just like measles or polio.

Meanwhile, scientists are learning more about the immune system's role in MS.

The challenge has been finding a way to suppress the immune system that is powerful enough to be effective in most MS patients — yet not so powerful that it leaves them vulnerable to other diseases.

Whether reducing relapses will ultimately lessen patients' cumulative disability is not yet clear. But that's the hope, especially as scientists discover new molecules to manipulate.

PHILADELPHIA: Barely 15 years ago, doctors could do nothing to change the course of multiple sclerosis, the disabling neurological disease that strikes in the prime of adulthood.

Today, six drugs are approved to decrease the periodic immune attacks that underlie MS, another six are in final human testing, and dozens more are in development. Researchers have zeroed in on genetic and environmental risk factors; a common virus may play a role in activating the disease. And the ultimate goal — regrowing damaged nerves — is no longer a pipe dream.

''I think a regeneration process may be available in the next five to 10 years,'' said Abdolmohamad Rostami, chair of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University, where researchers have partially reversed nerve damage in mice. ''I'm very optimistic.''

Rostami joined other MS researchers at last month's annual conference of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Greater Delaware Valley Chapter.

Without being Pollyannaish about the prospects for curing MS, the experts agreed that huge strides have been made in managing and slowing the disease.

''We're treating people much earlier, so they're getting more years of exacerbation-free time, which we believe will reduce the long-term disability,'' said Clyde Markowitz, director of the MS Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

In MS, infection-fighting white blood cells attack the protective myelin covering that insulates nerve fibers in the brain, spinal cord and eyes. Like broken electrical cables, the inflamed myelin — and, eventually, nerves — become unable to conduct the brain's signals. This can cause impaired vision, numbness, mental problems and paralysis.

About 10 percent of patients become steadily and progressively more disabled without clear autoimmune attacks. But most of the country's 400,000 patients experience relapses of varying severity and frequency, with complete or partial recovery in between.

Circumstantial evidence has long supported the idea that MS is triggered by an infectious agent in people with genetic susceptibility.

Now, research is bolstering suspicion that Epstein-Barr virus is the culprit.

Epstein-Barr is a microbe that infects about 95 percent of U.S. adults. Often there are no symptoms, but more than a third of infected adolescents and young adults develop infectious mononucleosis.

A history of mono increases the small risk of MS as much as threefold.

While the viral link is controversial, it is raising hopes that MS could be prevented with a vaccine, just like measles or polio.

Meanwhile, scientists are learning more about the immune system's role in MS.

The challenge has been finding a way to suppress the immune system that is powerful enough to be effective in most MS patients — yet not so powerful that it leaves them vulnerable to other diseases.

Whether reducing relapses will ultimately lessen patients' cumulative disability is not yet clear. But that's the hope, especially as scientists discover new molecules to manipulate.
http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/health/12810342.html?page=2&c=y


MS patients receive adult stem cells in Israeli study
By ISRAEL21c staff December 25, 2007

'Most MS patients reported a stabilization of their condition and some an improvement in function, especially in sphincter control, muscle power in arms, tremor and stability in walking.'
http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1889&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Health


►►►►►New research grants approved for funding
This year the MS Society’s Board of Trustees has approved funding of approximately £3.7 million for new research projects ranging from clinical trials to basic science in the field of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

In line with the Society's research strategy, funding has been prioritised for two key areas of research identified by researchers in the MS field and people affected by MS. These are ‘Mechanisms of nerve damage, repair and protection’ and ‘Symptom relief research’. The MS Society also welcomed applications for research into the category of ‘Evolving MS services research’ as well as through our ‘Open strand’ available for any other area of research relevant to MS.

This section aims to give short summaries of each of the proposed grants which have been approved for funding in 2007.


Mechanisms of nerve damage, repair and protection
http://www.mssociety.org.uk/research/research_we_fund/nerve_damage_07.html


Symptom relief research
http://www.mssociety.org.uk/research/research_we_fund/symptom_rel_07.html


Evolving MS services research
http://www.mssociety.org.uk/research/research_we_fund/evolving_ms_07.html


Open strand
http://www.mssociety.org.uk/research/research_we_fund/open_round_07.html

http://www.mssociety.org.uk/research/research_we_fund/2007_grants_fund.html

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

I take a drug called LDN which is already on the market. You can investigate it (LDN.ORG). There have been two conferences on this drug at the National Institute of Health. There are currently two drug trials for LDN. One at the University of PA and the other at the U of San Francisco. The drug costs next to nothing and it gave me my life back.

Answer 5

Go to mslifelines.com. This is a website for people with ms to talk and read about other people with ms. They also try to stay on top of the latest treatments. It's a good resource and the stories of people with ms can really help

Answer 6

check out this research group........http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/

Answer 7

Hi good question!

You can read about new research on http://www.mstrust.org.uk/research.jsp
and I would really recomend watching "what could Science do for me - MS" you can watch it onloine on this site http://www.communitychannel.org/content/view/1687/135/

I found that programme very good!