Neurodegeneration Vs Autoimmunity in MS – Which One Comes First, and Which One is More Important?
Neurodegeneration Vs Autoimmunity in MS – Which One Comes First, and Which One is More Important? Why is important to know ? Because understanding which one comes first and which one is more important would allow scientists to find better treatments and to create drugs that target the root (or as close as possible to the root ) cause of the problem . There is some evidence that neurodegeneration may precede inflammation and autoimmunity in MS. Let’s explore the research: 1. Neurodegeneration may come first and may be more important than inflammation in MS. MS was traditionally described as an inflammatory, autoimmune condition. Basically, the cells of the immune system would move across the blood brain barrier (which is not working properly in MS), attack the cells of the nervous system and trigger inflammation. The inflammation would often correspond with an acute relapse. Note: Almost all drugs currently treating MS are based on this theory, targeting the immune system known as either immunomodulatory or immunosuppressant drugs [1]. 2.Mitochondrial dysfunction leads to neurodegeneration. An increasing amount of evidence is showing that the key problem may be the degeneration (which develops because of mitochondrial dysfunction), while inflammation/autoimmunity would come second. In this case, we will need to see drugs that target the neurodegeneration for MS (by the way, there are some drugs approved for other medical conditions, not for...
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