• Question: Hi! I'm currently writing a 5,000-word essay (for my EPQ) regarding how close we are to finding a cure for multiple sclerosis and would to hear your ideas. Do you think that MS can be cured? Why do you think MS is such a mysterious disease? Thank you!

    Asked by anon-254060 to Gabrielle, James on 15 May 2020.
    • Photo: James Loan

      James Loan answered on 15 May 2020:

      Hi Rachael,
      Like many brain diseases, MS is a challenge! One reason for this is that once the brain has been damaged it struggles to repair itself. In MS we think that a lot of this damage occurs because the body’s immune system starts to attack particular cells in the brain (called oligodendrocytes). Huge steps have been made in slowing and sometimes stopping any more attacks once MS has been diagnosed, but we are still struggling to come up with strategies to repair damaged brain.
      By studying which patients are affected by the disease and identifying things that might cause it – viral infection and low levels of vitamin D have been suggested – it might be that we are able to prevent the disease sooner than curing it.

      And they do say prevention is better than cure!

      As to your second question – I think the most mysterious aspect of MS is how it seems to disproportionally affect patients who are born further away from the equator. No one knows why this is: sunlight and catching viruses (like the common cold) might explain some of this, but are probably not the whole story.

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