Researchers Identify New Subtype of Multiple Sclerosis

06/09/2018

Researchers have discovered a new subtype of multiple sclerosis (MS), providing a better understanding of the disease and potentially opening the door to more personalized diagnosis and treatments.

Traditionally, demyelination of cerebral white matter is thought to stimulate neuronal degeneration and permanent neurological disability in patients with MS. However, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have indicated a possibility of demyelination and neuronal degeneration occurring independently. Now, new study findings have identified a subtype of MS—myelocortical MS (MCMS)—that has neuronal loss but no demyelination of the brain’s white matter.

“This study opens up a new arena in MS research,” said Bruce Trapp, PhD, chair, Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, and lead researcher of the study, in a statement. “It is the first to provide pathological evidence that neuronal degeneration can occur without white matter myelin loss in the brains of patients with the disease.”

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