Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer ★★★ Just back from the NMSS ‘Pathways to Cures’ meeting in Washington DC during which we pledged to STOP, RESTORE and END multiple sclerosis. The END refers to prevention. We discussed at the meeting modifiable risk factors that could be tackled to reduce the incidence (new cases) of MS and one risk factor childhood and adolescent obesity. One...
Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer ★★★★★ I am en route to a ‘Pathways to Cures’ meeting in Washington DC hosted by the National MS Society. The aim of the meeting is to refine the ‘Stop, Restore, and End Pathways’ for MS and to develop an international consensus on what an MS cure looks like. I am honoured to be invited to participate in this meeting and would like to thank the NMSS for inviting me. ...
About three years ago I started wearing another hat; a preventive medicine hat. We started the Preventive Neurology Unit within our medical school focusing on MS, Parkison’s Disease and all-cause dementia. The unit is growing rapidly and gaining momentum. It was with great pride that I was able to attend and speak at first symposium. I have uploaded my slides for anyone who wants to download them...
When I posted the link to our EBV and MS meta-analysis on social media yesterday I was taken to task because of the slow progress we have made in MS prevention. Why has no preventative action been taken yet? What are they waiting for? I have had MS for more than 50 years and in all those decades the Epstein- Barr virus has been a usual suspect over and over and over again. Had glandular fever...
On the 5th August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) to teplizumab (anti-CD3) for the prevention or delay of clinical type 1 diabetes (T1D) in individuals at risk of developing the disease. This is quite amazing and has implications way beyond T1D. The question in relation to anti-CD3 treatment is this ‘true prevention’ or simply a disease...
Here is a reminder to book your place on next week’s preventive neurology discussion: your chance to influence the direction of research taken by the Preventive Neurology group. Here are the details if you missed the last post: The Preventive Neurology Unit are hosting an afternoon of informal conversations on the 30th April with people who have a particular interest in MS, Parkinson’s...
Avid readers of the blog will have heard us talk about MS prevention, and the new(ish) Preventive Neurology Unit that Prof G has helped to set up to study this. We are really keen that people affected by MS are able to tell us the kind of questions that they would like us to work towards answering. I have been tasked with looking at the causes and exploring the possibilities for preventing...
Is targeting the B-cell sufficient to get on top of MS or do we need something extra? I spoke at the MS Nurses’ MS@TheLimits2019 meeting at the Royal College of Physicians yesterday. My brief was to cover the role of B-cells in the pathogenesis of MS and to review the converging evidence that supports B-cells being the central player in the pathogenesis of MS. It is clear that depleting B...