- As of 2020, about 2.8 million people globally have multiple sclerosis (MS).
- Almost all people with MS have symptoms that eventually progress to higher stages of disability.
- Researchers from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) have created a blood test to detect worsening MS disability one to two years before it occurs.
As of 2020, about
There is currently no cure for MS. Although a person with the disease may start with minimal symptoms,
Being able to predict better when a person’s MS symptoms may worsen would allow doctors to provide disease-modifying therapies to hopefully help slow progression.
Scientists from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) are helping with these efforts by creating a blood test that can detect worsening multiple sclerosis disability one to two years before it occurs.
Research on the new blood test was recently published in the journal
According to Dr. Ari J. Green, chief of the Division of Neuroimmunology and Glial Biology and medical director of the UCSF Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroinflammation Center at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), and co-senior author of this study, the biological basis for permanent irreversible neurological dysfunction is the loss of connections within the nervous system.
“Progressive disability worsening in MS is likely caused by the cumulative effect of the loss of tens of thousands or even millions of
“However, viewed this way, the loss of neurological function in the context of progressive worsening is a terminal event without the capacity for reversal. Waiting until someone shows this…
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