Multiple Sclerosis Discovery: The Podcast Of The Ms Discovery Forum

[intro music]   Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Forty of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Raj Kapoor who discusses a clinical trial of the epilepsy drug, phenytoin, for MS. But first, a few updates on the latest developments at MSDF.   We posted an essay by Dr. Katie Lidster of the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, & Reduction of Animals in Research, a U.K.-based scientific organization. In her essay, she points out that Dr. Kapoor’s phenytoin study was made possible by the prior development of a refined mouse model of MS that is more humane than experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, which results in paralysis. To find Dr. Lidster’s article, go to msdiscovery.org and click first on News and Future Directions and then on Essays and Opinions.   Our Drug-Development Pipeline includes continually updated information on 44 investigational agents for MS. During th

[intro music]   Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty-Nine of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features the second part of our interview with Joseph Berger of the University of Pennsylvania. But to begin, a couple of updates.   Last week we told you about our Drug-Development Pipeline, which includes continually updated information on 44 investigational agents for MS. Since last week’s podcast we added two new trials, we updated information on 10 other trials, and we added 10 other pieces of information. The drugs with important additions and changes are dimethyl fumarate, fingolimod, glatiramer acetate, interferon beta-1a, interferon beta-1b, and phenytoin. To find information on all 44 compounds, visit msdicovery.org and click first on Research Resources and then on Drug-Development Pipeline   Two weeks ago we described how we curate a weekly list of all newly published scientific papers on MS and related

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty-Eight of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features part one of a two-part interview with Joseph Berger of the University of Pennsylvania. But to begin, we’d like to tell you about MSDF’s Drug-Development Pipeline.   Twelve drugs are currently approved in the US for the treatment of MS, but there are many more drugs in various stages of clinical and pre-clinical development. We’re keeping daily track of 44 of them in our Drug Development Pipeline.   To visit the pipeline just go to msdiscovery.org and click on Research Resources, and then Drug-Development Pipeline. You’ll find a finely detailed, fully referenced, and easily searchable database of all 44 of those drugs. The database includes details on each drug candidate’s physiology, its progress through pre-clinical and clinical trials, and its regulatory and commercial status.   Science journalist Heather McDonald has man

[intro music]   Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty-Seven of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Jeanne Loring, who works with human induced pluripotent stem cells in a mouse model of MS. But to begin, we’d like to tell you about one of the most useful features of the MS Discovery Forum.   Each week somewhere between 30 and 110 papers related to multiple sclerosis are published in the scientific literature. At MSDF, we endeavor to list them all, publishing links to a curated set of each week’s new papers every Friday at msdiscovery.org/papers.   The first step in curating this list is an automated PubMed query that pulls all papers containing the terms multiple sclerosis, myelin, optic neuritis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, neuromyelitis optica, transverse myelitis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, cuprizone, neurodegeneration, microglia, and several related terms.

[intro music]   Dan Keller: Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty-six of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an extended interview with Jenny Ting, an immunologist who studies the inflammasome, a multi-protein oligomer that’s part of the innate immune system. But to begin, we’d like to tell you something about why we started the MS Discovery Forum.   MSDF, located at www.msdiscovery.org, is an online portal providing news and information about research in MS. We offer a unique combination of news and background articles written by professional science journalists, viewpoints from thought leaders and subject matter experts, and technical resources that enable sharing and analysis of information and open discussion among MS stakeholders in academia, industry, and the clinic. Membership in MSDF is free, and all content on the site is provided on an open-access basis to the entire MS community.   MSDF stands apart for its c

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty-Five of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Daniel Reich, an expert in MS neuroradiology. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Every week somewhere between 30 and 100 scientific papers related to MS are published in the peer-reviewed literature. And every Friday MSDF lists them all. You can find this week’s list, as well as three years’ worth of past lists by clicking on the Papers tab at the top of every MSDF page. In addition to listing the new papers, we also have a section containing classic papers in the field, along with commentary about what makes them classic. We’d love it if you’d like to suggest a classic paper we haven’t yet listed, and we’d love it even more if you’d like to contribute commentary. Please send your suggestions to editor at msdiscovery.org.  

 [intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty-Four of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features a follow-up interview from last week’s episode with Dr. Pierre-Antoine Gourraud. This week, we interview Dr. Jill Hollenbach about killer immunoglobulin-like receptors – or KIR – and their relationship with human leukocyte antigen and MS. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Take some time to check out our most recent data visualization on our website. Under the research resources tab, you can find a series of interactive data visualizations useful for MS researchers. Our most recent one organizes 142 ongoing clinical trials into an interactive bubble chart. We have another visualization on the natural history of MS symptoms. The interactive bar chart allows you to see the change of various symptom severity in MS over a 30-year period.   If y

[intro music]   Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty-Three of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Pierre-Antoine Gourraud about the function of human leukocyte antigens and their role in MS. But to begin, here's a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Early in January, the journal Nature Reviews Neurology published a highlights issue of research advances in MS in 2014. The milestones included successful phase 2 trials for simvastatin in progressive MS, new clinical phenotype categories, and more. We summarized each of these advances, supplemented with interviews from some of the authors. Go to the “News and Future Directions” section of our website and click on “Top 8 MS Research Advances of 2014” to read it. And please do make use of our comment section, especially if you believe that we – and Nature Reviews Neurology –

[intro music]   Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty-Two of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Dr. David Holtzman of Washington University in St. Louis about how a protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease may also have a role in MS progression. But to begin, here's a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   We recently added a new data visualization to our growing collection. This one organizes every ongoing MS clinical trial—142 of them—into an interactive bubble chart. The size of each bubble represents the sample size of the trial, and the color indicates if the compound has been used to treat MS before. You can organize the chart 10 different ways, including by phase, compound, and sponsor. Go to the “Research Resources” section of our page and click on “data visualizations” to view it.   Yet another Phase 2 trial on autolo

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty-One of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Lloyd Kasper about the gut microbiome and its role in MS. But to begin, here is a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Last week our parent organization, the Accelerated Cure Project, launched its latest endeavor called “iConquerMS.” iConquerMS aims to enroll 20,000 people living with MS to play an active role in research, empowering them to securely submit their health data, influence the studies that are carried out by the initiative, and stay informed about the research. Visit iConquerMS.org for more information.   Vision and sensorimotor problems go together in some MS patients. A recent publication in the journal Neurology examined the relationship between MRI measures of the spinal cord and retina in patients with MS. The investigators fou

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Thirty of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Seema Tiwari-Woodruff about estrogen in animal models of MS. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Last week, we reported on the results of another clinical trial for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in relapsing-remitting MS. Compared to the “halt-MS” trial, which we reported on in January, this study used a less aggressive conditioning approach. Patients involved in the study demonstrated improvement in EDSS scores, and eighty percent of them were relapse-free at four years. The results raised important questions about how to prep MS patients for the transplant. Visit our “News and Future Directions” section to read the full story.   A recent study published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal demonstrated a potential ne

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Twenty-Nine of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Monica Carson on funding research in MS. But to begin, here is a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Glatiramer acetate and the interferon betas appear to be clinically similar, according to a new study in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal. This study follows on the heels of a Cochrane meta-analysis we covered earlier in 2014 that found similar results. Instead of performing a meta-analysis, though, the researchers of the MSJ article used data from over 3,000 patients in the MS Base database. They found very little difference in annualized relapse rates over 10 years, though glatiramer acetate and subcutaneous interferon beta 1-a did eke out a statistical win over the other interferons.   Together, MSDF and our non-profit publisher, Accelerated C

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Twenty-Eight of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features part two of an interview with Dr. Brenda Banwell in which we discuss pediatric MS. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Researchers recently put a simple measure of corpus callosum atrophy to the test in a 17-year-long study. The team measured the area of this inter-hemisphere highway in MS patients and found it correlated with their cognitive and physical disabilities over time. Corpus callosum area is faster, easier, and cheaper to measure than volume, since it requires no special equipment beyond the typical MRI machine. The researchers hope they will be able to demonstrate that this measurement can also predict disease course in future studies with larger cohorts.   Every Friday we curate research articles on all topics related to multipl

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Twenty-Seven of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Brenda Banwell about a new journal on multiple sclerosis and related disorders, of which she is a co-editor-in-chief. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   This week we published two stories related to articles published in the December 2014 issue of JAMA Neurology. The first article is about the interim results of the Halt MS trial. In this phase 2 clinical trial, physicians performed autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplants on 24 patients with relapsing-remitting MS. In other words, the team obliterated the patients’ existing immune systems and attempted to hit the reset button by infusing the patients’ own stem cells. Three years after the treatment, 78% of patients showed no signs of disease activity, significan

[intro music]   Host – Dan Keller Hello, happy new year, and welcome to Episode Twenty-Six of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Tim Kennedy about remyelination and neural development. But to begin, here is a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   According to a new clinical trial, azathioprine, or AZA, may be as effective as interferon beta. The generic immunosuppressant was effective in both reducing relapses and reducing new brain lesions in the multicenter trial. This may not be surprising since the drug has been used off-label to treat MS for several decades. If trials continue to go well, AZA may become the go-to alternative for patients who can’t afford brand name interferons.   A pair of Canadian studies recently showed that both neurodegeneration and inflammation may start in the early stages of pediatric multiple sclerosis. One team f

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Twenty-Five of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features a special interview with actor and science advocate, Alan Alda, whom you may remember as Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Positive thinking may lead to positive clinical outcomes, according to a new meta-analysis. The investigators found that interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy helped patients deal with physical symptoms like fatigue and pain. They suggested that psychological well-being should be assessed and treated along with physical disability in people with MS. The researchers also called for studies that examined the connection between the psychological and the physical more directly.   Moving from the macro to the micro, we recently published an article about axonal transport. Axons rely on

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Twenty-four of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Professor Aksel Siva about asymptomatic MS. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   We just uploaded a new data visualization to our website. This one breaks down the design of MRI-related clinical trials in MS. It combines 88 trials conducted between 1998 and 2013 in a colorful, interactive dot plot. Each dot represents a point in time for a particular measurement, such as brain volume. You can sort trials by phase, and you can look at trials in aggregate or one at a time. To view this new visualization, go to the Data Viz section under the “Research Resources” tab and click on the top link.   Magnetic resonance imaging is a source of anxiety for many people with MS. Just getting into the machine is nerve-wracking, and waiting

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Twenty-three of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Professor Aksel Siva about radiologically isolated syndrome. But to begin, here is a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   The role of diet in MS is a longstanding question, for which there many opinions, but few definitive answers. Researchers and clinicians know little about how diet may contribute to the risk of developing MS, and how it may help or hurt the progress of the disease once it starts. Nevertheless, patients are pushing for answers, hoping that there is more they can do to help slow their disease. We recently published a story looking into all the facts and myths of diet. We also covered what makes diet so difficult to study in a clinical setting, and where the field is going from here.   2015 is just around the corner, and deadlines

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Twenty-two of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Paul Matthews about the Optimize project in the United Kingdom. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Some good news came from the pharmaceutical company Genzyme. On November 14th at 9 pm Eastern time, the FDA approved the drug alemtuzumab – trade name Lemtrada – for relapsing forms of MS. The FDA previously rejected the drug in 2013 due to concerns about study design and side effects. There is still some concern over safety, though, so the company is releasing it to only a limited number of patients. The prescription will also come with a host of other drugs to protect against harmful side effects. Researchers aren’t quite sure how the drug works, but it appears to target monocytes, T cells, and B cells.   Researchers anno

[intro music]   Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Twenty-one of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Paul Matthews about imaging in multiple sclerosis. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   We recently reported on a draft of a review released by the Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality about discontinuing disease-modifying therapies in patients with MS. Though the report’s main conclusion was that little evidence is available to assess the risks and benefits of discontinuing therapies, several MS groups came together to criticize the report during the open comment period. Groups like the National MS Society and Medical Partners 4 MS raised concerns that the review was not conducted properly and that insurance providers may use it as justification to reduce coverage of DMTs for MS. The AHRQ told Mult