New Insights on Discovering Targeted Therapies for Progressive MS: Anne H. Cross, MD

WATCH TIME: 5 minutes

"Compartmentalized inflammation may not be targeted by our present therapies, but some of our newer therapies coming up will cross the blood brain barriers and attack this compartmentalised inflammation and progressive MS. That's the type of progressive MS that really needs better treatments right now."

Often impacting patients in their early adulthood, multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated disorder that affects the central nervous system in the brain. From disease onset, approximately 10% of patients with MS experience chronic progression.¹ Treating patients with progressive forms of the disease has been a challenge, as there is only 1 FDA-approved therapy for this specific patient population.

At the 2023 Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) Annual Meeting, held May 31 to June 3, in Aurora, Colorado, Anne H. Cross, MD, professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine, presented a talk on targeting different pathways of disease progression in early MS.² In her talk, she explored the concept of compartmentalized inflammation and the pressing need for effective treatments to combat progressive MS.

Cross sat down in an interview with NeurologyLive^® at the meeting to give an overview of her presentation and her thoughts on important aspects of care for patients. She talked about the key findings in research regarding cortical lesions and their impact on disability in progressive MS. Cross also spoke about how meningeal inflammation contributes to the gradient of cell death and neuronal loss in the gray matter. In addition, she mentioned some of the challenges in developing therapies that can target compartmentalized inflammation in progressive MS.

Click here for more coverage of CMSC 2023.

REFERENCES
1. Ciotti JR, Cross AH. Disease-Modifying Treatment in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Curr Treat Options Neurol. 2018;20(5):12. Published 2018 Apr 7. doi:10.1007/s11940-018-0496-3
2. Cross AH. Neuroimmunologic Pathways of Disease Progression: Potential Targets for Intervention. Presented at: 2023 CMSC Annual Meeting; May 31-June 3; Aurora, CO. Targeting Pathways of Disease Progression in Early MS. Independently Supported Symposium. ISS3.