oration, and especially through
face-to-face meetings—like this
one—which we’ve been holding
every two years.
Repair team
members
discuss
research
findings.
We also brought great minds together for a think tank in Bos- ton in December 2010, focusing on the challenges associated with progressive MS. This ground-breaking meeting—hosted by
the Society and its drug development subsidiary, Fast Forward—engaged researchers from
universities and pharmaceutical/
biotech companies and MS
society leadership from the U.S.,
Canada, Italy and the United
Kingdom.
JOAquIN DAvID
The discussion made it clear
that the Society’s new Strategic
Response focusing on progressive
MS is right on target. Advances
in pathology and imaging are
finally yielding new information about progressive MS. We
now know that progressive MS
features “diffuse” or “
smoldering” inflammation, rather than
the acute immune attacks that
are seen in relapsing MS. This
inflammation appears to be
driven by cells called microglia,
immune cells that reside in the
brain. More work is needed to
understand their role, but they
are already being targeted by
therapies in the MS pipeline.
Also, novel brain imaging
techniques are offering new ways
to see the nervous system injury
that occurs during the course of
MS. These techniques, such as
DTI (diffusion tensor imaging),
may be helpful for detecting
whether the nervous system is
being repaired or protected by
experimental therapies.
We will not stop there. We will
pursue all promising avenues;
connect people, resources and
ideas; speed development of
treatments; and identify and fill
gaps—until we have stopped
MS progression in its tracks and
restored lost function to people
with MS. n
Dr. Timothy
Coetzee is
the Society’s
chief research
officer.
