Monoclonal antibody therapy in multiple sclerosis: Paradigm shifts and emerging challenges.

ABSTRACT: Therapeutic approaches to multiple sclerosis (MS) are based on altering the functions of the immune system, either by using broad immunosuppressive drugs used for transplantation rejection and rheumatology, or by modulating them more discreetly with beta interferon and synthetic amino-acid copolymers. These strategies are only partially successful, have important safety and tolerability limitations, and have shown to be mostly effective in earlier stages of the disease, in which acute relapses dominate the clinical picture. For progressive phenotypes of MS there are currently no effective therapeutic options. As very specific and potent immunosuppressive agents, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) may offer considerable advantages over other therapies for MS. During the last decade, anti-a4 integ

SUBMITTER: Fontoura P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3011221 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature