Jan 27, 2026
3 min read
There are more than 20 treatments for multiple sclerosis, but research continues to develop new drugs that take advantage of natural antibodies.
144,000 people.According to data published by AISM in the Multiple Sclerosis Barometer, this disease affects this number of people in different ways in Italy.Thanks to research, today there are more than twenty types of treatment methods that respond to the patient based on the characteristics of the condition.But this does not mean that it is not possible to find other ways to fight the disease, especially if there are advanced forms of the disease and there is currently no effective treatment.
A new research process moves around this idea, which the Santa Lucia IRCCS Foundation of Rome works with the support of the AISM and the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Foundation (FISM).The goal is to study the natural anti-inflammatory mechanisms of the immune system to develop a new class of drugs that have the effect of increasing these mechanisms and reducing the effectiveness of the immune system itself.
What is multiple sclerosis
It is a neurological disease that affects the central nervous system and worsens over time.The first signs of its presence often appear at an early age, between 20 and 30 years, and it generally occurs in people between the ages of 15 and 45-50 years.Women are affected twice as often as men.
The classic alteration of the pathology affects myelin, the material surrounding the nerves, which ensures the proper speed of transmission of nerve signals.Myelin is damaged and anti-myelin antibodies are found in patients.The result is that nerve signals don't flow as they should, and therefore limited movement, affecting areas of the body that are normally under the control of the area of the brain where the plaques appear.The changes in multiple sclerosis are called demyelination.
Interleukins take center stage.
Multiple sclerosis is caused by an abnormal immune system reaction against molecules in the nervous system that cause neuroinflammation.Therefore, current treatments focus on modulating or suppressing the immune system to reduce the symptoms and long-term effects of this disease, but this immune function can reduce the body's ability to fight foreign viruses and other dangers.
To meet this need, a new study is being conducted by a research group at the Molecular Neuroimmunology Laboratory of the Santa Lucia IRCCS Foundation, led by Elisabetta Volpe.
In the magnifying glass, the role of interleukin 9 (IL-9) in the treatment of inflammatory activation in the central nervous system, especially in astrocytes, for example.stellate cells (hence the name), which provide structure to the nervous system, but which can be reactive, i.e.inflammatory, in pathological conditions.
Interleukins are immune system proteins that carry messages: they can activate, enhance or reduce immune responses, and this study shows that IL-9 has a reducing effect on the inflammatory state of astrocytes.
Hope for the future
"These results show that the immune system not only has negative functions in multiple sclerosis, but can also activate mechanisms that suppress neuroinflammation, and understanding how patients' brains respond to inflammatory stimuli increases therapeutic options for patients," says the expert.
Harnessing and selectively modulating these mechanisms, and specifically reprogramming the responses of astrocytes and other cells that cause neuroinflammation, is an important step toward envisioning increasingly targeted therapies.
The study, published in Neurology: Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation, was conducted in a cell model on brain tissue from people with progressive multiple sclerosis.This experiment uses complex experimental methods, based on three different human in vitro models (astrocyte lines, human primary astrocytes and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived astrocytes), using inflammatory stimuli to reproduce in vitro conditions similar to multiple sclerosis, observed and completed.
This strategy makes it possible to strengthen the biological validity of the results with the aim of accelerating the transfer of these findings to the creation of new therapies.
Different types of diseases
Classically, multiple sclerosis manifests itself with repeated attacks, which are activated by the action of plaques that damage myelin.Unfortunately, over time these lesions can become "irreparable" and therefore the results of neurological damage can be permanent.The disorders are variable and depend on the affected area.
Members can be contacted, information, the word and other neurological actions.However, it is different from the illness of the disease to the disease and can change during the patient's life.In some cases, the great body disaster is found after the first step, in other two-year-olds after the age of the "slope is to be.
Therefore, it is important to recognize the different forms of the disease: the most common is relapsing.In this case, symptoms and signs appear and disappear, especially in the early stages of the disease, that is, in the early years.
When it recurs, we talk about relapse, which can manifest with new symptoms or worsening of existing symptoms.Complete or incomplete disappearance of symptoms is otherwise indicated by the term remission.Several years after its onset, and without the possibility of predicting when and how the disease will manifest, this form can develop into a secondary progressive form.
It occurs with or without relapse, which is often less than full recovery, with possible phases of relative remission and stabilization.There is then a progressive-primary form, which evolves from the onset of the disease, characterized by possible phases of relative improvement and stabilization, and a progressive-relapse form, characterized, however, by a progressive course from the onset, not characterized by rehabilitation or recovery.Finally, you have a less severe multiple It may include sclerosis, which is characterized by full recovery after one or two relapses and does not cause permanent deficits.
In all cases, the most important thing is that the victim finds the disease early, thanks to the early diagnosis, and then trusts the experts and is able to use the drugs available today.
