We offer two summaries to allow everyone – patient, loved one, caregiver, or researcher – to understand the key issues of this research, each at their own level.
Science is at its best when it is open to all.
For everyone – Summary in plain language
Targeting Aggressive Brain Lesions in MS: A New Approach
In multiple sclerosis (MS), some types of brain lesions are linked to more aggressive disease progression, even without relapses.
This study looks at whether current MS treatments can effectively target these lesions.
By using advanced MRI techniques, researchers aim to better understand these lesions and find ways to improve treatment strategies.
For specialists – Scientific summary
Characterizing the effect of disease modifying treatments on chronic active MRI lesions
Scientists have recently discovered that disability accrual in multiple sclerosis (MS), often occurs independently of acute relapse activity.
A key contributor to this clinical progression appears to be a specific subset of brain lesions known as “smoldering” or “chronic active” lesions (CALs). Patients harbouring these CALs often have a more aggressive disease.
However, it remains unclear whether available MS drugs can effectively target and resolve these focal smoldering inflammatory lesions.
Our recent findings show that CALs are highly heterogeneous, and that characterizing this pathological heterogeneity with MRI seems to improve our prediction of MS clinical outcomes.
Building on these findings, this project will explore whether characterizing CALs heterogeneity could better explain the effect of available MS drugs on smoldering brain inflammation, potentially identifying a window of opportunity to target this process.
