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Transcranial magnetic stimulation and other evoked potentials in pediatric multiple sclerosis.

In children, multiple sclerosis is rare and has some clinical and paraclinical differences compared with adults. The assessment of corticospinal motor tracts is expected to be relevant because of their frequent early involvement in this disease. Reported are the results of transcranial magnetic stimulation in two children who presented at 12 and 9 years of age with clinically probable and definite multiple sclerosis, respectively. In Patient 1 the excitatory cortical threshold for the upper limbs was abnormally raised. In Patient 2 the latency of the motor-evoked potentials was considerably increased for the right tibialis anterior muscle, with a slowing of the central conduction time. Although these abnormalities may be consistent with central conduction impairment, they may alternatively suggest early axonal damage because irreversible axonal lesions occurring at the onset of the disease have recently been reported. Testing of central motor tracts, in addition to visual, auditory, and somatosensory pathways, therefore appears appropriate in the multimodal assessment of pediatric patients with suspected multiple sclerosis.

Axons↗

Interferon beta-1b is effective in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. I. Clinical results of a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The IFNB Multiple Sclerosis Study Group.

We report a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of interferon beta-1b (IFNB) in 372 ambulatory patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). Entry criteria included an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score of 0 to 5.5 and at least two exacerbations in the previous 2 years. One-third of the patients received placebo, one-third 1.6 million international units (MIU) of IFNB, and one-third 8 MIU of IFNB, self-administered by subcutaneous injections every other day. The primary end points were differences in exacerbation rates and proportion of patients remaining exacerbation-free. The annual exacerbation rate for patients receiving placebo was 1.27; for 1.6 MIU IFNB, 1.17; and for 8 MIU IFNB, 0.84 after 2 years. Exacerbation rates were significantly lower in both treatment groups compared with the placebo group (8 MIU versus placebo, p = 0.0001; 1.6 MIU versus placebo, p = 0.0101; and 8 MIU versus 1.6 MIU, p = 0.0086), suggesting a dosage effect. The reduction in exacerbation severity in the 8 MIU group was attributable to a twofold reduction in the frequency of moderate and severe attacks. More patients in the 8 MIU group (n = 36) were exacerbation-free at 2 years compared with the placebo group (n = 18; p = 0.007). EDSS scores changed little from baseline in both the placebo and treatment arms. Accordingly, a significant change in disability could not be discerned in this trial. Finally, in serial MRIs, MS activity was significantly less in the high-dose IFNB group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

[Pain in multiple sclerosis--a still underestimated problem. The 1 year prevalence of pain syndromes, significance and quality of care of multiple sclerosis inpatients].

We evaluated the 1-year prevalence of pain syndromes and quality of care among 157 consecutive multiple sclerosis (MS) inpatients (90 f, 67 m) aged 19-85 years, with extended disability status scores of 1.0-8.5 and clinically definite MS. In a standardized questionnaire, only severe pain (pain intensity on visual analog scale of at least 4/10) was documented and classified which had occurred more often than three times or lasted longer than 1 week within the last year. Of 157 patients, 61% reported 176 pain syndromes: most frequent were headaches (40%), dysesthetic limb pain (19%), back pain (17%), and painful spasms (11%). Twelve percent of the pain syndromes were classified as worst symptom of MS, and in 68% insufficient care by the physicians consulted was reported. This was even true for the most frequent pain, migraine, in which clear treatment recommendations exist. There is thus an urgent need for physicians to keep this problem in mind when treating MS patients.

Adult↗

Hepatitis B vaccination and the risk of multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND: Reports of multiple sclerosis developing after hepatitis B vaccination have led to the concern that this vaccine might be a cause of multiple sclerosis in previously healthy subjects. METHODS: We conducted a nested case-control study in two large cohorts of nurses in the United States, those in the Nurses' Health Study (which has followed 121,700 women since 1976) and those in the Nurses' Health Study II (which has followed 116,671 women since 1989). For each woman with multiple sclerosis, we selected as controls five healthy women and one woman with breast cancer. Information about hepatitis B vaccination was obtained by means of a mailed questionnaire and was confirmed by means of vaccination certificates. The analyses included 192 women with multiple sclerosis and 645 matched controls and were conducted with the use of conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: The multivariate relative risk of multiple sclerosis associated with exposure to the hepatitis B vaccine at any time before the onset of the disease was 0.9 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.5 to 1.6). The relative risk associated with hepatitis B vaccination within two years before the onset of the disease was 0.7 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.3 to 1.8). The results were similar in analyses restricted to women with multiple sclerosis that began after the introduction of the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. There was also no association between the number of doses of vaccine received and the risk of multiple sclerosis. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate no association between hepatitis B vaccination and the development of multiple sclerosis.

Case-Control Studies↗

Intrathecal activation of the IL-17/IL-8 axis in opticospinal multiple sclerosis.

There are two distinct subtypes of multiple sclerosis in Asians, opticospinal (OS-multiple sclerosis) and conventional (C-multiple sclerosis). In OS-multiple sclerosis, selective and severe involvement of the optic nerves and spinal cord is characteristic, though its mechanisms are unknown. The present study aimed to find out possible differences in the cytokine/chemokine profiles in CSF between OS-multiple sclerosis and C-multiple sclerosis and to delineate the relationships between these profiles and neuroimaging and pathological features. Sixteen cytokines/chemokines, namely interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12 (p70), IL-13, IL-17, interferon (IFN)-gamma, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and macrophage inflammatory protein-1beta (MIP-1beta), were measured simultaneously in CSF supernatants from 40 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (20 OS-multiple sclerosis and 20 C-multiple sclerosis) at relapse and 19 control patients with spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD), together with intracellular production of IFN-gamma and IL-4 in CSF CD4+ T cells. In CSF supernatants relative to controls, IL-17, MIP-1beta, IL-1beta and IL-13 were only significantly increased in OS-multiple sclerosis patients, while TNF-alpha was only significantly increased in C-multiple sclerosis patients, using a cut-off level of 1 pg/ml. IL-8 was significantly elevated in both OS-multiple sclerosis and C-multiple sclerosis patients. MCP-1 was significantly decreased in both OS-multiple sclerosis and C-multiple sclerosis patients, while IL-7 was only significantly decreased in C-multiple sclerosis patients. IL-17, IL-8 and IL-5 were significantly higher in OS-multiple sclerosis patients than in C-multiple sclerosis patients. The increases in IL-17 and IL-8 in OS-multiple sclerosis were still significant even after exclusion of the patients undergoing various immunomodulatory therapies. Assays of intracellular cytokine production revealed that both the IFN-gamma+IL-4- T-cell percentage and intracellular IFN-gamma/IL-4 ratio in CSF cells were significantly greater in C-multiple sclerosis patients than in controls. Contrarily, OS-multiple sclerosis patients showed not only a significantly greater percentage of IFN-gamma+IL-4- T cells than controls but also a significantly higher percentage of IFN-gamma-IL-4+ T cells than C-multiple sclerosis patients. Among the cytokines elevated in multiple sclerosis, only IL-8 showed a significant positive correlation with the Expanded Disability Status Scale of Kurtzke score. Both the length of the spinal cord lesions on MRI and the CSF/serum albumin ratio had a significant positive correlation with IL-8 and IL-17 in multiple sclerosis, in which the spinal cord lesions were significantly longer in OS-multiple sclerosis than in C-multiple sclerosis. Three of six spinal cord specimens from autopsied OS-multiple sclerosis cases demonstrated numerous myeloperoxidase-positive neutrophils infiltrating necrotic lesions. These findings strongly suggest that in OS-multiple sclerosis, in addition to the Th1 cell upregulation seen in C-multiple sclerosis, intrathecal activation of the IL-17/IL-8 axis inducing heavy neutrophil infiltration contributes to extensive spinal cord lesion formation.

Adult↗

Myelin autoreactivity in multiple sclerosis: recognition of myelin basic protein in the context of HLA-DR2 products by T lymphocytes of multiple-sclerosis patients and healthy donors.

A panel of 20 human myelin basic protein (hMBP)-specific T-lymphocyte lines was generated from the peripheral blood of eight multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and two healthy donors, most of them expressing the HLA-DR2 haplotype, which is associated with an increased susceptibility to MS. Using HLA-DR gene-transfected mouse L-cell lines as antigen-presenting cells, we established that of the 20 hMBP-specific T-lymphocyte lines, 7 were restricted by the DR2a gene products of the DR2Dw2 haplotype. Four T-cell lines recognized hMBP in the context of the DR2b products of the DR2Dw2 haplotype. DR2b-restricted T-cell responses were demonstrable only in T-cell lines derived from MS patients. The hMBP epitopes presented by the DR2a heterodimer were mapped to peptides covering amino acid residues 1-44, 76-91, 131-145, or 139-153 and to a region spanning the thrombin-cleaved bond at Arg130-Ala131. DR2b-restricted T-cell lines recognized epitopes within amino acids 80-99 and 148-162. Peptide 139-153 was also presented in the context of HLA-DR1 molecules. Our data show that (i) in MS patients both the DR2a and DR2b products of the DR2Dw2 haplotype function as restriction elements for the myelin autoantigen hMBP, (ii) the DR2a molecule presents at least five different epitopes to hMBP-specific T lymphocytes, and (iii) anti-hMBP T-cell lines derived from individual donors can differ in their antigen fine specificity as well as in their HLA restriction.

Adult↗

Treatment of children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis.

The onset of multiple sclerosis is being increasingly recognized in children and adolescents. There are now approved immunomodulatory therapies for adults with multiple sclerosis. Treatment early in the disease course appears to have a greater impact on disease outcome, an issue of particular importance for children who face decades of multiple sclerosis disease activity. This review summarizes the multiple sclerosis therapies currently available, efficacy data available from studies of these medications in adults and limited information on the use of these medications in children. Future directions in multiple sclerosis therapeutics and specific issues relating to pediatric multiple sclerosis are discussed.

Adolescent↗

A phase III trial of intramuscular recombinant interferon beta as treatment for exacerbating-remitting multiple sclerosis: design and conduct of study and baseline characteristics of patients. Multiple Sclerosis Collaborative Research Group (MSCRG).

The design and conduct of a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter, phase III study of recombinant interferon beta-1a (IFN-beta-1a) as treatment for exacerbating-remitting MS are described, as are baseline characteristics of the study population. The purpose of the study was to determine if 6.0 x 10(6) IU (30 micrograms) of IFN-beta-1a, administered by weekly intramuscular (i.m.) injections, was effective in delaying the onset of sustained disability. The primary outcome measure was time to onset of treatment failure, defined as a worsening on the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) of greater than or equal to 1.0 point compared with baseline, persisting for at least 6 months. An intent-to-treat design was used. The primary outcome measure was analyzed using the Mantel-Cox log-rank statistic and Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Secondary outcomes included quantitative measures of upper and lower extremity function, neuropsychological test performance, functional and quality of life assessments and several measures derived from annual brain MRI studies. Entry criteria included prestudy exacerbation rates of at least 0.67 per year and EDSS scores of 1.0-3.5. A total of 301 MS patients were randomly assigned to receive weekly i.m. injections of IFN-beta-1a or placebo. The average age of the study population at entry was 37 years; 92% were Caucasian and 73% were women. The mean prestudy disease duration was 6.5 years, mean prestudy exacerbation rate was 1.2 per year and the mean EDSS score was 2.3. The randomization yielded well-balanced treatment arms. Various aspects of the study are discussed, including: (1) the decision to focus study design on sustained disability; (2) the rationale for the treatment regimen; (3) measures taken to assure the reliability of the primary outcome measure; and (4) a description of the secondary outcome measures.

Adolescent↗

[Primary progressive multiple sclerosis].

Mainly progressive multiple sclerosis (MPMS) is an uncommon clinical form of multiple sclerosis which includes 10 20% of all patients with the disorder. MPMS shows certain clinical characteristics which differentiate it from other forms of progression of the disease. We review the immunological and radiological behaviour of this clinical form, and discuss recent classifications of the disease and new diagnostic criteria. Finally we comment on the few therapeutic options currently available for these patients and their future prospects.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

[Daily life activities and multiple sclerosis].

The onset of Multiple Sclerosis usually concerns young adults who are making plans for their life. The personal, familial, professional plans must be adapted to the course of the disease. This adapted daily life must be as normal as possible to prevent the social loneliness which is the principal complication of Multiple Sclerosis. Three frequent situations of daily life have recently been studied in Multiple Sclerosis. Pregnancy is permitted. There is a dramatic decrease of the relapse rate during pregnancy but an obvious increase after delivery. Pregnancy has no influence on disability. Vaccinations do not favor the onset or the worsening of Multiple Sclerosis according to studies with large number of patients (in particular hepatitis B vaccination). Stress is not able to trigger the onset or relapses of Multiple Sclerosis. Stress could even protect against relapses. The Multiple Sclerosis daily life does not need to take specific precautions which would expose to the marginalization of patients.

Activities of Daily Living↗