Differences Between Progressive and Relapsing MS: Benjamin Segal, MD

“As we age, there is a systemic, low-grade chronic inflammation and the release of a lot of pro-inflammatory molecules from macrophages throughout the body. Some of these pro-inflammatory molecules may cross the blood-brain barrier and cause this widespread microglial activation that we see in progressive MS.”

At the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum 2021, February 25-27, Benjamin Segal, MD, addressed the committee in the form of the Kenneth P. Johnson Memorial Lecture. For his topic of choice, he spoke on the current overall understanding of and differences between the relapsing and progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

This lecture featured, of course, how these changes in disease often require parallel changes in the treatment approach. Physicians such as Segal often engage with patients with inactive progressive MS about possibly discontinuing treatment with disease-modifying therapy as their disease continues on that course. Additionally, he offered his insight into how progressive disease differs from relapsing MS on a molecular level, postulating about the potential cause of blood-brain barrier breakdown in early disease.

In this interview with NeurologyLive, Segal, who is the chair of the Department of Neurology and the director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at The Ohio State University, spoke to his major take-home messages from the talk regarding the current understanding of the phases of the disease.

For more coverage of ACTRIMS Forum 2021, click here.