Multiple Sclerosis

• Description
• Who is at Risk?
• A Potential New MS Treatment's Long and Winding Road

Description
Multiple sclerosis (or MS) is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another. Today, new treatments and research are giving new hope to people affected by the disease.

Source: National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Who is at Risk?
MS is not contagious and is not directly inherited, although heredity is a factor. People from different ethnic groups have different tendencies to develop MS. It is most comment among people of Northern European ancestry, although African Americans and Hispanics develop MS as well. Other ethnic groups – Intuits, African blacks, and Southeast Asians – are much less likely to have MS. The average person in the United States has about one chance in 750 of developing MS. But relatives of people with MS, such as children, siblings or nonidentical twins, have a higher chance – ranging from one in 100 to one in 40. In addition to genes, other factors – perhaps exposure to germs or viruses – play a part in causing MS. That is why scientists say that MS is not directly inherited.

Source: National Multiple Sclerosis Society

A Potential New MS Treatment's Long and Winding Road

In a remarkable turn of events, a 20-year-old treatment pioneered by Scripps Research scientists for an exceedingly rare form of leukemia appears to be on the verge of becoming the first effective oral therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease that affects an estimated 2.5 million people worldwide. The drug, cladribine, which is currently marketed under the name LEUSTATIN® by Ortho Biotech, Inc. (an affiliate of Johnson & Johnson) for the treatment of hairy cell leukemia, was initially identified and developed by Dennis Carson, a Scripps Research scientist working in collaboration with Ernest Beutler, the late Scripps Research professor and chair of the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine. In January of 2009, primary data from a two-year Phase III trial of cladribine tablets for MS sponsored by Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, was announced and showed that the drug significantly reduced the relapse rate of MS patients with the relapsing-remitting form of the disease.

The potential importance of the drug cannot be overstated, according to Associate Professor Jack Sipe, M.D., the Scripps Research scientist.who first suggested that the drug might have potential as a treatment for MS. Currently, there are six FDA-approved medications for the treatment of MS, all require injection, and all are expensive and difficult for patients to tolerate. Many of Sipe’s MS patients have been on them for five to ten years and they're very tired of injections. This new treatment, if it's approved, has the potential to make a significant difference in the quality of life for people who suffer from MS.

For more information >