Multiple Sclerosis Discovery: The Podcast Of The Ms Discovery Forum

Full transcript: [intro music] Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Eighty-Six of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m Dan Keller. A hallmark of multiple sclerosis is a new brain lesion. The active inflammation normally goes away in about 4 to 6 weeks, disappearing from contrast-enhanced detection by MRI scans. More recently, in some people with MS, researchers have found smaller longer-lasting inflammatory lesions outside the brain, in the surrounding lining called the leptomeninges, as well as evidence that they may play a role in progressive disease. The tiny compartments are associated with more severe disability, worse outcomes, and nearby gray matter demyelination. Dr. Pavan Bhargava, a neuroimmunology fellow at the Johns Hopkins University MS Center in Baltimore, Maryland, has started a phase I trial to slow progressive disease by targeting the B cells in these follicles. He is testing an anti-B cell antibody called rituximab, using the drug intrathecally—