T-cells are a type of white blood cell that recognizes fragments of molecules, called antigens, through specific membrane receptors (TCRs). Each of these cells has unique TCRs that recognize a specific antigen.
This antigen can be, for instance, a fragment of a particular virus or bacterium, a specific type of cancer cell, or, in the case of autoimmune diseases, a particular molecule of a person’s own body promoting inadequate attacks against it.
When a T-cell encounters the antigen its receptor recognizes, it produces many copies of itself and instructs other immune cells to attack the same antigen.
“They’re both the effectors and organizers of the body’s adaptive immune response, which means they can be used as therapeutics and studying their dynamics can shed light on overall immune activity,” Pavlo Nesterenko, the study’s first author and a graduate student at UCLA, said in a university press release.
The short-term efficacy of DMTs in MS has been demonstrated in clinical trials; yet their long-term impact is less well-established.
Extension trials are a common strategy for long-term analysis, but are limited by selection bias because most clinical trial participants who respond to treatment are more likely to enter an extension trial, thus leading to an overestimation of effectiveness.
Recently, statistical methods have been developed to control some of these biases. However, most studies used conventional statistical approaches and overlooked the cumulative impact of DMT exposure over time on current disability.
This led to the development of a statistical model to assess current risk, regardless of treatment or combination of treatments in the past. The model includes DMT exposure, dose, and timing of past exposure to generate a value called a weighted cumulative exposure (WCE) metric.
Obesity, High BMI Linked to Greater MS Risk, Autoimmune Activity 3.7 (21)
Obesity and a higher body mass index (BMI) are associated with both increased multiple sclerosis (MS) risk and harmful autoimmune activity that is induced by leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells, a study finds.
These results indicate that leptin, which helps regulate body weight, may act as a functional link between obesity and MS.
The worldwide prevalence of MS has increased over the past years, and previous studies have found a potential association between BMI and the risk of developing the disease raising the possibility that increasing global obesity and MS cases may be related.
Plegridy as Intramuscular Injection for RRMS Approved in Europe 4.7 (11)
The European Commission (EC) has approved a new, intramuscular formulation of Plegridy (peginterferon beta-1a) to treat people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).
This new mode of administration in which Plegridy is directly injected into the muscle, rather than under the skin (subcutaneously) does not compromise the therapy’s safety or effectiveness. Rather, this formulation might lower the incidence of injection site reactions, offering patients a reliable alternative to the therapy’s standard subcutaneous formulation.
“The availability of a new intramuscular route of administration offers individuals living with relapsing MS an additional choice of a platform therapy, combining the safety and efficacy of Plegridy, with the potential to significantly reduce injection site reactions,” Maha Radhakrishnan, MD, chief medical officer at Biogen, the developer of