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Multiple sclerosis enters a grey area

Studies of multiple sclerosis have long focused on the white matter of the brain. Insights into how immune cells target the brain’s grey matter now illuminate the stage of the disease at which neurodegeneration occurs.
  1. Jenna L. Pappalardo

    1. Jenna L. Pappalardo is in the Departments of Neurology and Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.

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  2. David A. Hafler

    1. David A. Hafler is in the Departments of Neurology and Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA, and at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease with a genetic origin. The condition is characterized by an attack on the brain mediated by the immune system, leading to diverse symptoms caused by damage to neurons1. Animal models are available for the early stage of the disease, which is called relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis. However, the progressive forms of multiple sclerosis associated with neurodegeneration and disability are comparatively under-studied, and what shapes the course of disease progression is largely unknown. Insights into the later stage of the condition could help the development of clinical approaches that tackle the underlying causes. Writing in Nature, Lodygin et al.2 shed light on the progressive stage of the disease. Using a rat model and blood samples from people who had multiple sclerosis, the authors identify the protein target of an immune cell that attacks the brain region called grey matter.

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Nature 566, 465-466 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00563-6

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Competing Interests

D.A.H. has received funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis and Genentech. D.A.H. has been a consultant for Compass Therapeutics, EMD Serono, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi Genzyme and Versant Venture, Genentech and Proclara Bioscience.

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